Clarity
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: Post-Subspace Emissary, kind-of experimental fic. Just as the Smashers are recovering from the Subspace Emissary, a parade of eccentrics ask to be taken in because they lost their homes to Subspace. How will this turn out for the Smashers, and what might these newcomers be hiding behind their appearances?
1. Parade of Eccentrics

**Author note: I do not own Super Smash bros. Nor do I own the song that partially inspired this, 'Clarity' by Zedd ft. Foxes, hence the title of this fic. There are other songs that inspired this fic (some dubstep/synthpop, some of different genres) and I don't own them, either.**

**...To be honest, I'm kind of just experimenting here out of boredom, if you're wondering how this came up. I will try to update 'Fight Inside or 'Rebirth' in the next little while, but I'll be working on this, too (though updates might not be too often, mind you). **

**Warning: Takes place post-Subspace Emissary, OCs (yes, there are OCs...), possible/implied pairings, violence, possible shounen-nai/shoujo-ai/yaoi/yuri/slash...Am I missing anything? ...I don't think so...**

**Constructive Criticism would be greatly appreciated, as this is kind of an experiment (like my fic 'Colours,' except with more of an actual plot). I hope you guys read, review and enjoy! Thanks!**

* * *

_**Clarity**_

* * *

_1. Parade of Eccentrics_

* * *

A few figures stood in front of a mansion, the gates surrounding it an iron black. One figure, with scars all over her skin, gazed at the mansion quietly.

"So, this is the mansion that houses the renowned Smashers." She spoke, her deep voice trailing to a soft pause. She then continued, turning to the others. "Shall we enter?"

The others nodded, and they started to walk closer to the mansion doors.

* * *

Master Hand sighed as he worked away at all the paperwork. So much damage had been done in the past few months, and he knew he had to take care of them. His brother Crazy Hand was nowhere to be found, at least not since the whole Subspace Emissary scenario. At least he'd escaped Tabuu's clutches. At least, Master Hand hoped so. The

Tabuu. Master Hand was still irked at the fact that he let that rainbow-winged ruler of Subspace take control over him for those few months. With that being done, because he let Tabuu take control, all this damage was done. If only, if_ only _he had enough power at the time to erase Tabuu out of existence before he let Tabuu take control-

If he'd been powerful enough at the time, he would have wiped out Tabuu in an instance. But travelling through Subspace had weakened him and Crazy, and Tabuu wasn't a mere Primid that one could squash in an instant.

His thoughts were interrupted as Lucario burst into the office. The Aura Pokemon slipped on a few papers that Master Hand had earlier knocked onto the floor by accident and leaded on his rear painfully. Lucario winced in slight pain, before slowly getting up.

_"Master Hand. There are some people that wish to speak with you." _Lucario started. _"They would not give their names, nor their reasons for why they wished to speak with you."_

_"I see..." _Master Hand floated towards the door. _"I will take care of this."_

As Master Hand floated down the hallway, thoughts flew about in his mind. _Who wants to speak to me now? I hope it's no other people complaining about damages done to such and such places by Subspace..._

It wasn't what he expected. A group of people stood at the entrance, and each of them looked quite...Eccentric. Yes, eccentric was definitely the right word to describe their appearance. Each one of them looked different from the rest of the group.

One of them was a girl with short black hair, in a sort of gothic-lolita style of gown of the colours black, grey and white. Her shoes, mary janes, were black and there were white socks to accompany them. Many thin scars traced all over her pale skin, and her eyes shone a light bluish-green, an obvious contrast to the dark attire. She stared at Master Hand quizzically, unsure of what to say or do.

The second was a man, with light blond shoulder-length hair and deep crimson eyes, like Lucario's own. He wore a cream-coloured blazer, blending with the lavender vest and cream-coloured, collared shirt underneath. Cream-coloured pants and shoes finished off the look, and he even had a top hat that was cream-coloured as well, with a lavender sash about it. He took it off as soon as he saw Master Hand, and bowed deeply in respect.

The third was a woman, about the same age as the man or slightly younger, with wavy, dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail. A light brown corset, probably leather, was worn underneath a black blazer. She wore black pants and boots as well (black socks, too), and she held a cane in one hand. Master Hand noted the golden pocket watch sticking out of her blazer pocket, and an ammunition belt with a revolver hanging onto it. She stared at him like any curious child would with her black eyes wide, and she tilted her head to the side, too.

The fourth was another man, with silver hair loose and somewhat straight. He looked quite youthful, in contrast to what regular people would look like if they had grey hair; those types would look obviously more aged than himself. He wore glasses, and his complexion was as pale as the black-haired girl, but not littered with scars unlike her. He wore a black scarf about his neck, and he wore a trenchcoat of the same colour, with black pants and shoes. He seemed indifferent to the fact that a giant, disembodied hand was floating in front of him, and his clear rose-quartz eyes seemed blank.

The last of the group was a girl, older than the black-haired girl but a few years younger than the rest of them. She had hair of sky blue, groomed into a neat bob. Her eyes were almost colourless, save for tints of grey. A sundress of rainbow watercolours adorned her frame and she wore light blue sandals. A light blue watch rested on her wrist, and Master Hand noticed she wore light blue leg and arm warmers as well.

"Greetings, Master Hand." The girl of sky blue hair spoke. "My companions and I have gotten quite lost, as we don't really have a place to go, and we are in need of shelter. We are willing to pay for this." She snapped her fingers, and the blond-haired man caught a suitcase conjured of out of thin air. He opened it, revealing many Smash coins inside.

Though the offer was fine, Master Hand shook his head/body. _"There is no need for you to pay. You are welcome to stay here until you all figure out a way back home." _He responded politely.

"Actually, that isn't exactly possible." The silver-haired man responded quickly, crossing his arms as he spoke. "Our homes were completely destroyed by Subspace, and-"

"Oh, shush already Lyndon..." The brown-haired woman muttered out of annoyance to the silver-haired one. "This is _the _Master Hand who is trying to work away at repairing everything since the whole Subspace Emissary thing ended! At least be a little more sympathetic for him!" She ended, taking out her revolver and pointing it at his head.

"Goodness, Amelia, please..." The blond man responded, stepping between the two and pushing the revolver away from Lyndon. "Try to be a little more civil in front of Master Hand. I don't think he would appreciate silent death threats to each other." Amelia just let out a huff, before putting the revolver away.

_"Don't worry. I deal with approximately forty Smashers every day, since the Subspace Emissary, and some are arch enemies to each other. It can always be worse." _Master Hand reassured him. _"What are your names, by the way?"_

"Well, my name is Zakuro." The black-haired girl spoke up, grinning. "Nice to meet you, mister Master Hand. Or should I just call you Master Hand? Or Hand? Or Master?"

_"Master Hand is fine, thank you." _Master Hand told her, before turning to the others. _"And the rest of you...?"_

"My name is Lyndon." The silver-haired man responded quietly.

"My name is Amelia. Nice to meet you, I guess..." The brown-haired woman responded.

"Sir, my name is Andre. 'Tis a pleasure to finally meet you." The blond-haired man answered, bowing again to Master Hand with his hat removed.

"I am Xeraphina." The blue-haired girl finished, smiling at the end of her statement. "All of us are honoured that you would take us in, Master Hand."

* * *

"Okay, okay...What?"

"Yes! More women! Finally!"

"They're staying with us?"

"Who the heck are these guys?"

The Smashers had mixed reactions amongst themselves as Master Hand introduced the guests. Standing at the back of the crowd of Smashers who were talking with the new guests was Mewtwo, observing the newcomers carefully.

"Yo, Mewtwo, aren't you going to say hello to them?" The psychic Pokemon turned to see Roy make his way towards him. "They're pretty nice, in my opnion...Okay, maybe except for the Lyndon guy, he's a little cold...But I'm sure he'll open up soon." The red-haired swordsman remarked.

_"Of course I will greet them, Roy. It would be rude not to." _Mewtwo responded casually. _"All of them seem very...Eccentric. All of them together make a parade of eccentrics, in my opnion. Their appearances individually are quite different than most regular people, obviously, but together, with all their differing styles and behaviours...It's remarkable how they all fit together like pieces of a puzzle."_

Roy was a bit confused at the statement. "Should I assume you're complimenting them?" He asked.

_"...No. Not yet." _Mewtwo muttered in response, before floating over to the other Smashers. Roy wasn't sure what Mewtwo really meant, but he had a feeling things were going to get interesting from now on.


	2. Introductions

_2. Introductions_

"...Nice...To...Meet you..." Ike Greil trailed off as the blond-haired Eccentric (a lot of the Smashers had started calling the new group 'The Eccentrics' mainly due to their appearances) shook hands with him.

"Thank you, Ike." Andre responded as he smiled at the swordsman, before promptly opening his rucksack and starting to unpack. "I'm grateful that you were willing to share a room with me."

"No problem." Ike reassured him quickly, doing his best to smile back. "I've just got one question."

Andre looked up, pausing in the unpacking. "What is it?" He asked, confused. "What is it that baffles you?"

"It's just..." Ike paused before blurting out, "Do you dress like that all the time!? You know, with your fancy clothes. Just wondering..." Ike had a point. Andre did wear fancy clothes, clothing that he'd seen nobles wear. Perhaps Andre was one of those born of nobility?

"Yes, most of the time." Andre responded, giving a nod. He took off his top hat and placed it beside him as he sat on the side of his bed. "I grew up in a family of noble heritage. It makes sense that those considered 'nobles' would wear fancier clothes than those considered 'commoners,' as they put it. And if I were to judge you from your attire, you're a mercenary of the sorts."

Ike looked down at his clothing, before giving a nod. "Actually, I am. Kind of." Ike responded, crossing his arms. "Is it like to judge one by their appearance?"

"No. Not really. I don't like that." The Eccentric's facial expression turned to a small frown as he answered the question. "Just because one is a noble doesn't mean they are pleasant, and just because one looks like a commoner doesn't mean they are not nice people. I learned that a long time ago." Ike figured he should probably change the subject by now. He didn't want the newcomer to get upset.

* * *

"You're a female?" Amelia asked in awe as Samus took off her helmet. "I thought you were a boy! I didn't think-Sorry!" She finally finished, blushing slightly of embarassment.

"It's not a problem." Samus reassured her as she put the helmet on a nearby dresser. "A lot of the guys thought I was a male before the Melee and Brawl tournaments. It's not like too many people expect a woman to be geared up in something like this." She finished, tapping the chestplate of her Power Suit twice with one hand.

"Wow..." The steampunk-styled Eccentric paused, before speaking again. "Do you think I'll be able to fight you or the other Smashers in a battle soon?" She asked, grinning. "Because, well, I think that would be awesome!"

"Master Hand usually makes all the newcomers fight some of us in exhibition matches first thing to get a taste of what it's like in the tournaments." The bounty huntress responded, giving a quick nod. She turned to the clock, checking the time before turning to Amelia. "Actually, I think Master Hand mentioned earlier that the matches would take place before dinner, so...It's half-an-hour from now." Amelia took out a pocketwatch, reading it before putting it back in her pocket and looking at the clock.

"Oh, you are right! I should probably go grab Andre, then." Amelia responded, before running out of the room. "ANDRE! WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU!?"

Samus let out a sigh, before rushing after Amelia. "You're going the wrong way! The boys rooms are to the left!" She shouted, not wanting the newcomer to get lost on her first day.

* * *

"So, oxygen is toxic to you and your kind?"

_Yes. _Olimar wrote in response to Lyndon's question. _Master Hand adjusted my room so that I can take off my helmet while I am in here. The rest of Smash Mansion, however, I cannot unfortunately. Don't worry, the air in here is not toxic to human beings._

"Fascinating..." Lyndon wrote some things in a small notebook, before putting it in his coat pocket.

It bewildered Olimar that the black-cloaked Eccentric immediately noted that he wasn't breathing in oxygen as soon as he entered Olimar's room. He wondered if Lyndon was trained to sense such things, and he wrote that down as a quick question.

"Ah, actually yes." Lyndon responded, crossing his arms. "I grew up in a family of assasins. I was a former assasin as a result, before I joined the rest of the group. It makes sense that I would notice such scents and such easily, I was trained since day one to notice this stuff." He gave a little half-smile as he tied his hair back with a black elastic band. "It also probably explains my behaviour earlier. I'm too used to giving a face of indifference..."

_I see. _Olimar had guessed right about that. The Smasher glanced at the clock, before writing something. _We should probably get to the Viewing Room now. Master Hand is going to start the exhibition fights for you newcomers. _

Olimar noticed a gaze of bloodlust settle into Lyndon's rose-quartz eyes temporarily, before it cleared. "Sounds good..." Lyndon trailed off, before his facial expression turned to one of indifference. "Let's go." As the two walked out of the room, Olimar tried reassure himself that the odd look just now was merely a trick of the light.

* * *

"I can't _wait_ to fight you and Popo in battle, Nana!" Zakuro chattered excitedly as she and Nana walked down the hallway. "What's it like battling the other Smashers? Is Bowser seriously fat or does he have tons of muscle underneath his skin? Why is Mewtwo able to float in the air like he can?"

"Slow down!" Nana told her quickly, before letting out a sigh. "Battling the other Smashers can be pretty fun, but it can also be annoying. And definitely dangerous. During one of the matches, ten Smashers had to go to the infirmary in one day because of that."

"What about Bowser and Mewtwo? Are they tough?" The Eccentric asked as the two paused in their tracks.

"Well-" Nana started, but Samus and Amelia dashed past them.

"Dang it Amelia, you're on the wrong floor!" Samus shouted as she chased the steampunk-styled Eccentric. "Will you _stop_ running and let me help you find Andre!?"

Zakuro let out a sigh. "Oh, Amelia...Whenever she's in a hurry she never stops running..." She trailed off, before turning back to Nana. "Anyway, where were we?"

Nana wanted to face-palm herself, as she knew that the flurry of questions bombarded at her would only continue.

* * *

"I'm glad that I get to share rooms with, Xeraphina." Zelda spoke as she and the rainbow-draped Eccentric left their room. "I hope that we get to know each other well in the next while."

"Thank you." Xeraphina responded, nodding once. "I'm sure we will, and the same goes for the rest of the 'Eccentrics,' as you Smashers have started calling us."

"Well," Zelda remarked, "All of you are kind of...Eccentric. We all can't help but notice that."

Before Xeraphina could reply, Amelia and Samus both ran towards them-not intentionally, of course-and-

All four females realized they'd crashed into each other just as they hit the floor. Xeraphina let out a groan of pain as Amelia started apologizing for the incident. Samus helped Zelda and the others up, just in time for Andre and Ike to see them.

"Well...I wasn't expecting this." Andre remarked, with a quiet chuckle. "Amelia, let me guess...You ran into all of them because you were looking for _me_, weren't you?"

"Yes." Samus replied for Amelia. "I didn't think she'd go running around and screaming your name, though."

"I apologize for Amelia's behaviour." The top-hatted Eccentric responded, taking off said hat and giving a small bow. "I'm afraid we can't do much to fix that, so the best you can do is just run out of the way before it happens ever again." He made eye contact with Zelda, and his facial expression seemed to change slightly to a gentle gaze, complete with a small smile. "It would be terrible if any of you had to go to the infirmary because of a simple accident such as this."

"Andre!" Amelia groaned, blushing with slight embarassment before grabbing Andre by the ear. "Geez, your gentlemanly behaviour really annoys me at times..." She muttered, before dragging him away from the others. "C'mon, let's get to the Viewing Room..."

"Wait a second!" Andre responded, pushing Amelia away before running back to Zelda. "What is your name, miss?"

"Zelda." Zelda responded quietly, a little surprised at his action. "Nice to meet you, Andre."

"Nice to meet you, too." Andre responded, smiling again at her before Amelia dragged him away.

Ike let out a low whistle. "Whoa, Zelda...I think Link might have some competition from now on." He teased. Xeraphina also let out a small chuckle at that remark.

"Oh, shush..." Samus muttered, elbowing Ike. "Let's get over to the Viewing Room..."

* * *

_"Greetings, everyone!" _Master Hand spoke. _"To celebrate the arrival of our newcomers, we shall have them all go through an exhibition match against the veterans! Each match will be one-on-one, Smasher vs. Eccentric. Each one will have one life stock, and the match has no time limit. The use of items will be prohibited, however, except for the Smash Ball." _Some Smashers let out a groan at that statement, but Master Hand ignored it. _"And now, we will select our first fighters by random choice of the Smash System!" _

A small TV screen with the words Smashers vs. Eccentrics on the screen changed quickly to the faces of each of the Eccentrics on one side, and the faces of the Smashers on the other. Both sides flipped the faces every time, the Smashers going from Sonic to Olimar to Samus to Mario. The Eccentrics side flipped from Lyndon, to Amelia, to Andre...

The Smashers side stopped on one face.

_"Pit Icarus!"_

The Eccentrics side stopped on a face now.

_"Xeraphina! You two will be fighting against each other first!" _Master Hand announced.

"Who is Pit Icarus?" Xeraphina asked. Several of the Smashers pointed to said Smasher. "Oh, there you are! Salutations!" She greeted the angel, before she waved to him. Pit awkwardly waved back, before the two were teleported into the arena.

_"The stage will be...Skyworld!" _Master Hand's voice boomed through the speakers. Instantly, the stage shifted so that despite the solid, but breakable ground underneath the two fighters' feet, there were clouds that one could easily fall through. There were two levels of this stage, and one mini platforms to the left and right of the main platforms/levels. Underneath, there was a mini platform that floated on and offstage.

Pit grinned. "Yes! This is my home-stage! Looks like I've got the advantage this time..." The angel trailed off, grinning.

Xeraphina looked around, completely in awe. "Wow...This is amazing, Pit!" She remarked. "A battle in the sky...Surely this will be most intriguing."

**_Game start!_**

* * *

**Author note: To clear confusion, the Link and Zelda I'm using for this fic are the ones from Brawl/Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess. The Samus I'm using is from Brawl, and, well, pretty much all the Smashers I'm using is from Brawl (except for the Melee people that didn't make it to Brawl, obviously).**


	3. Pit vs Xeraphina

_3. Pit vs. Xeraphina_

Both fighters waited for the other to make a move. And they waited. And waited...

"You know, you can start running at me and trying to beat me up." Pit told Xeraphina. "The match just started minutes ago."

Xeraphina sighed, crossing her arms. "Must we go with the _'ladies first'_ rule?" She murmured under her breath, before looking up at the angel Smasher. "I think I'd like for _you_ to try running at me to go and beat me up. I want to know how fast you are at when it comes to charging at enemies."

Pit shrugged. "Okay, whatever floats your boat." He responded, before taking out his bow and splitting it into two mini-swords. He then rushed at Xeraphina, about to strike when she blocked the strikes by grabbing his wrists at the last minute. "Whoa. I wasn't expecting that..." He trailed off.

"Nor was I." Xeraphina answered, her eyes wide with interest gleaming in them. "If I hadn't caught your wrists just now, I would have received quite a bit of damage." With that being said, she pushed him backwards roughly, before spinning and kicking him in the chest. Pit was sent flying backwards, getting close to the edge of the platform.

Pit flew upwards, just in time to avoid Xeraphina rushing at him with her fists raised. The Eccentric realized her mistake too late, and she toppled off the platform...

Just to land safely on the mini platform below. "Lucky..." Pit trailed off as she dissapeared from his view. He looked around carefully, knowing that she might try to execute a sneak attack. But...From where exactly?

* * *

"Huh? Where did Xeraphina go?" Sonic spoke up as he watched Pit looking to his left and right for Xeraphina. "She was on the mini platform just now, but...She's suddenly vanished!"

"Not vanished," Lyndon responded with an indifferent face. "Simply...Invisible from view."

The blue hedgehog turned to the trenchcoat-wearing Eccentric. "You mean she has the ability of invisibility!?" He exclaimed.

Lyndon shook his head, his facial expression turning to a smirk. "Not exactly..." He murmured, letting out a quiet chuckle.

* * *

Pit did not expect to get smashed by a sudden, invisible force, and he was sent flying to the left mini platform. Xeraphina appeared opposite him on the upper main platform, her arms crossed. A half-smile showed on her face, and her eyes gave the impression that she was enjoying this thoroughly.

"Wonderful, isn't it?" Xeraphina spoke. "I'm able to run quite fast to the point that no one can see me or sense me quickly enough. Amelia's trying to catch up to me on this, but speed isn't her main ability."

"Well, that's just great..." Pit trailed off, before suddenly lunging at her and executing an Angel Ring attack. Xeraphina, not expecting it, was sent flying backwards all the way to the right mini platform. Both fighters lunged at each other, exchanging punches and kicks, before Xeraphina vanished again. Pit cringed, before putting up his Mirror Shield in the hope that he was facing the direction where she was going to strike him.

Bad idea. She struck him from behind.

* * *

"No, Pit!" Marth shouted as the angel was sent flying.

"Yeah, Xeraphina! You can do it!" Zakuro shouted at the top of her lungs. "Pound Pit! Pound Pit!" She started, raising her fist every time she said "Pound Pit!" Some of the Smashers looked at her, most likely thinking the following statement...

_...Who is this unidentifiable creature that wants Pit's butt kicked so badly?_

The Eccentrics let out a cheer for Xeraphina while the Smashers continued cheering for Pit. The only people that were not cheering were Mewtwo and Lyndon. Both exchanged glances with each other, before continuing to watch the match.

* * *

"Dang it!" Pit grabbed onto the edge of the right mini platform, before pulling himself back to safety. "That was too close..." He trailed off. A flash of light appeared from above, and the two fighters looked up to see the Smash Ball, in all its radiance and glory.

"Mine!" Both fighters shouted, before leaping up to try to hit it. The two soon got entangled in a fist fight in the air, exchanging more punches and kicks before Pit finally got the upper hand by shooting her with an arrow.

"I got it, I got it!" Pit shouted, about to break the Smash Ball with an arrow when-

Xeraphina beat him to it by punching the Smash Ball into pieces. Instantly, an rainbow-coloured aura surrounded her. She merely gave a little half smile as Pit mentally prepared himself for his doom.

_"Final Smash activate!" _Xeraphina shouted, before the rainbow-coloured aura surrounding her glowed brighter. _"Rainbow Snatch!"_

Many multi-coloured beams of light extended from her back, and immediately they twisted and turned before heading towards Pit. The angel tried to escape, but a few of them wrapped around his waist and began to swing him around in circles. It started slowly at first, but soon got faster and faster...

Soon, Pit had a feeling about two things. One, he might hurl. Two, he had no idea if he was going at a speed that might rival Sonic.

The next thing he realized, he was flung into the horizon of Skyworld. Xeraphina posed as she watched him fly away, crossing her arms and giving a little half-smile as she slowly tilted her head to the side.

**_GAME!_**

* * *

"Yay!" Zakuro cheered, before enveloping Xeraphina in a hug. "Great job!"

"Thank you." Xeraphina responded, before turning to Pit. "You did a great job too, Pit." She spoke, extending a hand. Pit smiled back and shook hands with her, before everyone turned to see Master Hand.

_"Congratulations, Xeraphina." _Master Hand spoke, before turning to Pit. _"A well done effort, Pit." _He paused, before continuing. _"The matches are now in the Eccentrics favor, with a score of 1 to 0. Now, for the next match..."_

The TV screen appeared again, with the pictures of the Smashers and Eccentrics flipping from person to person quickly.

Then, the Smashers' side of pictures stopped on a certain green-capped swordsman.

_"Link!"_

The Eccentrics' side of the pictures stopped on a certain top-hatted Eccentric.

_"Versus...Andre!"_

Andre and Link gave each other a nod as Ike and some of the other male Smashers let out an "Oooohhhh!" of interest (word about Andre possibly liking Zelda and therefore being competition for Link spread quite quickly). The two were then teleported into the arena.

_"The stage is...Spear Pillar!"_

Immediately, the arena changed to become a large platform a cavern of glittering blue stones below while there were two mini platforms above the platform. In the backround, it consisted of some sort of ruins with a pinkish-purplish tint in the horizon. Link let out a deep breath, knowing that Palkia would most likely appear soon and cause trouble for him.

"How interesting..." Andre trailed off, looking around. "I've read about this place through books in the past, but I never thought it was completely real."

"It is real." Link told him. "But this is just a simulation of the place. This isn't actually the real place."

"Oh. I see." Andre gave a small frown, before smiling a little. "Oh well. I guess I can settle for a simulation until I one day find the real Spear Pillar."

**_Game Start!_**

* * *

**Author note: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed so far! I really appreciate it! :) **


	4. Link vs Andre

_4. Link vs. Andre_

The two fighters lunged at each other right away, and Link took out his Master Sword, ready to slash at the top-hatted Eccentric. Andre immediately ducked a slash from Link, before jumping a few paces back and taking off his top hat. Quickly, he pulled it back before throwing it at Link.

The swordsman dodged the attack. "You know you just missed, right?" Link asked.

Andre smirked. "Look behind you." He murmured quietly, crossing his arms briefly.

"Huh?" Link turned-just in time to get hit by said top hat thrown at him moments earlier. The Hero of Twilight fell flat on his face as Andre grasped his top hat once more. "What!? What the-" Link got up quickly, before blurting out, "Are you trying to tell me that your top hat serves as a _boomerang_!? How is that _possible!?"_

Andre shrugged. "I don't really know. Let's just say my hat defies physics. And by the way, the reason you got damage is because there is titanium around the rim of the hat. It's just covered by the fabric so you can't see it." He responded, grinning a little. "It's quite intriguing, isn't it?"

"Um...Yeah." Link muttered, before taking out his boomerang and throwing it at Andre. The Eccentric ducked, and then he stood up, also getting hit when the boomerang rebounded and he landed face first on the grounds of Spear Pillar.

"Ow! I didn't think real boomerangs would actually hurt..." Andre trailed off as he got up. He looked down in disdain at his suit. "Dang it, my clothing is dirty already..." He muttered under his breath.

Link just smiled a little. "Get used to it." The swordsman replied before taking out his sword. Andre simply put up his fists, and the two lunged at each other.

* * *

"A boomerang hat? That's new." Falco remarked.

Amelia smiled. "That's my brother for you. Just because he doesn't look like he has any weapons besides his fists doesn't mean he is unarmed." She responded cheerfully.

"I see...Wait, wait, wait..." Falco turned to Amelia. "Brother!? You and Andre are siblings!?" He asked, gaping at her. Amelia just nodded in response. "But you two don't look anything alike!"

"We're half-siblings, actually...And besides, we take our appearances more from our mothers than our father. Of course we don't look anything alike." Amelia responded, putting her hands on her hips. "It's a long, long story Falco. I don't think you want to ask about it right now."

* * *

The two continued tossing boomerangs at each other as they tried to get up close to punch or kick each other. The only problem was, well, the boomerangs were preventing that from happening, taking into consideration that they kept rebounding back to their owners.

"Okay, okay, stop!" Link finally shouted after fifteen more times of trying to hit each other with the boomerangs. "This is getting really ridiculous, and we're not even reaching each other with our stupid boomerangs! Can't we just put them away, run at each other and try to beat each other up?"

"Well..." Andre gave Link a somewhat confused stare at first, before putting his boomerang top hat on his own head. "I suppose that would be beneficial for the both of us. This battle will go nowhere if we keep doing nothing but throwing boomerangs, anyway."

"...Right."

As Link put his boomerang away, a familiar flash of light appeared from above them. The two looked up, just in time to see the Smash Ball floating in the air.

"MINE!" Both fighters shouted, before scrambling onto the mini platforms to attempt to reach the Smash Ball. Unfortunately for both of them, that was when Palkia appeared in the background! The legendary Pokemon let out a loud, signaling that something was definitely going to happen.

"Oh crap." Link muttered, right before the stage went completely upside-down on them.

"What in the bloody world just happened!?" Andre shouted, looking around with a panicked expression on his face. "Why are we upside down!? What is going on here?!"

"Palkia can manipulate space!" Link shouted back to him. "Things could be worse; we could be running around in the opposite direction of where we actually want to go! Being upside-down is the least of our problems!" He tried to reach the Smash Ball with his Master Sword, but he missed.

Andre tried to throw a rose-shaped dart at the Smash Ball, but that also missed. "Does that mean if Dialga was around instead, it would slow us down?"

"Yeah, it would. Dialga can manipulate time, according to Red." Link responded, before he leapt for the Smash Ball. Andre tried to throw another rose-shaped dart at Link to slow him down, but it missed. Link swung the Master Sword downwards, destroying the Smash Ball in the process.

"Oh darn it." Andre muttered, before jumping off the mini platform back to the main platform. He then looked around. "What-Where did he-"

"Right here!" Link shouted, and Andre turned, just to get hit by the Triforce Slash attack. Immediately Andre was immobilized by the Triforce as Link slashed at him repeatedly, before letting out a cry as he slashed once more. The Eccentric was sent flying off to the left of the stage, hitting the boundary line a moment after that. "Yes-AAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!"

That last part was due to him getting blasted by a beam of light summoned by Palkia, and he ended up getting blasted off the stage and hitting the upper right boundary line.

_**GAME!**_

* * *

Andre sighed as he turned to the other Eccentrics. "So much for that..." He trailed off quietly. "Sorry, everyone."

"Hey, it's okay..." Zakuro responded, giving him a quick hug. "I'm sure you'll win your next battle, Andre!"

"Hey." Andre turned to see Link and Zelda walk over to him. "Great match." Link spoke, extending a hand towards him. Andre nodded once, shaking hands with him, before Zelda spoke up.

"You did well, Andre. There is no need to be ashamed of yourself about your loss." Zelda reassured him. "I'm sure you will do better next time."

Andre took off his top hat, bowing deeply. "I'm honoured by your words." He spoke, definitely touched by her words. He appeared to blush a little, but it faded as quickly as it came. "Thank you, princess." Zelda gave a nod, before she and Link went back to join the other Smashers.

_"Good job, both of you." _Master Hand told both Link and Andre. He then paused, before speaking. _"And now, Smashers and Eccentrics are tied 1 to 1. The next two people fighting are..."_

The TV screen appeared, with both the Smasher and Eccentric sides of the screen flipping faces like crazy. Eventually, the Smashers side stopped at a certain jackal-like Pokemon while the Eccentrics side paused at a steampunk-styled Eccentric.

_"Lucario vs. Amelia!" _Both mentioned fighters gave a quiet nod towards each other as they were teleported into the arena. _"The stage will be...Pirate Ship!"_

Lucario let out soft groan at the mention of the stage. "What's wrong with that stage? Do you hate it or something?" Amelia asked, confused.

_"I don't hate it per se, but I don't really like this one compared to Summit or Pokemon Stadium." _Lucario explained. _"I'm sure you'll figure out why quite soon."_

The stage now consisted of a pirate ship, floating on the ocean waters. Amelia looked around, a little surprised at first, but then she smiled a little. "Actually, I don't think I'll mind this stage." Just as she spoke of this, a small ship in the background fired a cannonball, and it missed Amelia by a few centimetres. "Okay, scratch that last statement. We're all doomed."

_**GAME START!**_


	5. Lucario vs Amelia

_5. Lucario vs. Amelia_

"Aah!"

_"Dang it!"_

"Crap!"

The previous three cries were due to getting hit by canonballs. You see, as soon as the match between Lucario and Amelia, the two had been sitting ducks for the ship in the background that shot canonballs at the Pirate Ship. It was so bad that they couldn't even currently focus on battling each other and instead had to focus on dodging those darn canonballs.

Eventually, after a couple moments, the ship in the background left...Just in time for the Pirate Ship to be tossed into the air by a large tornado-ish whirlwind.

"This stage is crazy!" Amelia shouted to Lucario as she hung onto the mast of the ship, before slowly crawling back onto the main deck. "I can see why you hate it now!"

_"Thank you!" _Lucario screamed back, before nearly falling off the ship. He quickly used his reflexes and aura abilities to get back onto the ship, just as the ship landed back onto the ocean waters. _"Okay, I think we can actually battle now."_

"Good." The steampunk-styled Eccentric muttered, before taking out a revolver and starting to shoot at him. Lucario jumped, avoiding the bullets before charging up an aura sphere and shooting it at her. She jumped back, landing onto the ground before sinking low to the ground and suddenly getting covered with a dark brown cloak.

_"What the-" _Lucario started, before the cloak burst open and bullets came flying at him. The Pokemon got hit, and was knocked to the ground. Before he could get up, he saw the barrel of a revolver getting pointed at his head. A figure who looked a little like Amelia, but a lot different, spoke with a small smirk on his/her face.

"Surrender yet?"

* * *

"We have another crossdressing one?" Ganondorf muttered. "Great...Just great..."

Zelda stared at Amelia. "Is this normal for her to suddenly change identities in battle?" She asked Andre.

"Yes, actually. She and I have had a history of crossdressing over the past years." He murmured quietly. "She's able to pass off as a boy quite well, even now. Call her Ambrose when she is in this form, it's more suitable in her crossdressed state..."

* * *

_"Well...The fact that you're able to give me damage while changing your appearance is interesting. And it's not even a Final Smash like Samus, which makes it a little more unique, so kudos to you for that." _Lucario responded as Ambrose continued to point his gun at him. _"Though I'll have to say no with your option of surrender." _

Ambrose shrugged as he put the gun away, before taking a few steps back. "Ah, I didn't think you would surrender yet anyway. The battle's just getting started." He muttered quietly. "I know I don't look completely like a guy, but I strike pretty close, right?"

Ambrose had a point. It was obvious his body shape had not changed, but merely the clothing. There was no corset, replaced by a plain white shirt that was unbuttoned at the collar with a light brown vest overtop. He wore a light brown hat that covered most of his hair from view (Lucario suspected it must be pinned up underneath the hat), save for a few bangs. There was still the ammunition belt with the gun attached, as well as the same pair of black dress pants, but her boots leaned more towards a masculine look rather than feminine. Lucario also noticed the absence of a cane, too.

_"I think it could probably fool some people." _Lucario responded, before charging up an aura sphere. _"Now back to the battle, shall we?" _With that being said, he threw the aura sphere at Ambrose, who jumped upwards and onto one of the higher levels of the Pirate Ship. The Eccentric then proceeded to take out a dagger and he jumped at Lucario, inteinding to stab him. The Aura Pokemon jerked his body back, before giving Ambrose a Force Palm to the face.

"Augh, that actually hurt! It's worse than Lyndon punching me whenever he gets pissed at me!" Ambrose groaned, dropping his dagger and holding his face for a moment in both hands. Looking at Lucario, he asked quickly. "Are you just really strong, or do you have some sort of ability or something?"

_"Actually, I do have an ability of Aura." _Lucario explained. _"The more damage I get; the more damage I can give you. I survived a lot of the battles during the Subspace Emissary because of that."_

"I see..." The two continued fighting, with Ambrose placing a couple punches to Lucario's face. The Aura Pokemon clashed back with more Force Palm attacks, as well as Aura Spheres to try to place more distance between them. Before Lucario could shoot another Aura Sphere at Ambrose, however, that was when the Smash Ball appeared.

* * *

"...Amelia crossdresses in battle?" Samus asked Xeraphina, who nodded once.

"Andre has also crossdressed in the past, but he doesn't like to battle in a dress." Xeraphina explained quietly. "Whenever Amelia takes on the alias of Ambrose, she doesn't use the cane because it doesn't suit her appearance. She throws more actual bare-handed punches and uses the gun more as well. Otherwise, she would have normally used the cane as her main weapon..."

"Interesting..." Samus then turned to Lyndon. "You _punch_ her whenever she pisses you off?" She asked in disbelief. "Why?"

"Who wouldn't?" Lyndon answered, looking at Samus with a slightly-confused-looking expression on his face. "And I don't do it all the time, it's just when I'm really, really pissed off and it's better than assasinating her or hurting the others, right? Besides, she has a decent amount of pain tolerance, so she's probably used to me smacking her in the face by now." Samus just let out a sigh, before turning away from him to observe the match.

* * *

Both fighters did not bother to yell 'MINE!' like the previous battles. Instead, the two just started grappling each other as soon as they realized the other was going for the Smash Ball as well. Eventually, Ambrose got the upper hand, and shot Lucario a few times with his gun before shooting upwards and destroying the Smash Ball.

_"Oh snap." _Lucario muttered, before trying to shoot some aura spheres at Ambrose, hoping that they would hit and split the Smash Ball from the Eccentric. Ambrose shot at the aura spheres, destroying them with the bullets as he started his Final Smash.

_"Final Smash! Dance of Clockwork!"_

Immediately, a transparent image of a brass clock with roman numerals as numbers appeared in the background. The clock's hands slowly reached the roman numeral for twelve at the top, and the clock struck one chime...

Lucario felt his body get jolted with electricity out of nowhere. He also realized he couldn't move.

The clock struck two. Lucario realized he was burning, on fire.

The clock struck three. The fire was replaced by a feeling of sluggishness, a feeling of not wanting or wishing to move.

The clock struck four. He suddenly felt like he was drowning, that he couldn't breathe and all he could feel was water around him, even though there wasn't even any water around him.

The clock struck five. His body felt so constricted, as if something was tightening around his chest especially. The aura Pokemon feared he could be suffocating.

The clock struck six. He looked up to see Amelia point a plated-gold gun at him, before shooting.

_**GAME!**_

* * *

"What the frick was that?" Ganondorf asked.

"What Amelia, erm I mean _Ambrose_ did is called 'Dance of Clockwork.' The clock chimes up to six times and every time it chimes, well, the opponent gets lots of bodily pain. And possible trauma if you're emotional enough." Andre explained to him. "Amelia can use that same abillity as well."

"So, how did I do, brother?" Andre turned to see the Ambrose alias had switched back to normal Amelia. "I honestly thought the match was a bit short, but I'm fine with it. And besides," She glanced at Lucario for a moment. "He did a great job, too. I didn't think there were any actual beings in existence that could harness Aura. I thought they all got wiped out thousands of years ago..."

_"Congratulations on your win, Amelia." _Master Hand spoke to her before turning to the others. _"And now, our next two fighters are..."_

The two sides of the TV screen flipped faces for several moments. Everyone tensed up, expecting Lyndon or Zakuro against one of the Smashers. Some of the male Smashers were betting that Lyndon would be next, while the female Smashers argued that Zakuro would be chosen instead. The faces slowly continued switching...and then stopped altoghter.

_"Zakuro vs. Kirby!"_

Some of the male Smashers groaned as the female Smashers told them to pay up. Meanwhile, Kirby and Zakuro were transported into the arena.

"You're Kirby?" Zakuro asked, looking at Kirby with a confused facial expression. "You know, you look an awful lot like Jigglypuff, in my opinion, except you don't have a little curl of fur above your eyes. Just saying..."

_"The stage will be...Smashville!"_

Immediately the stage shifted so that there was one big main platform, with a smaller one floating above. In the background, one could see anthromorphic creatures occasionally stopping by to watch the match. "This doesn't seem as harmful as Pirate Ship and Spear Pillar for sure..." Zakuro trailed off, before turning to Kirby. "Good luck."

"Poyo!" Kirby replied, waving one of his stubby arms.

Zakuro looked really confused here. "I'm sorry, what language are you speaking?"

**_Game Start!_**


	6. Kirby vs Zakuro

_6. Kirby vs. Zakuro_

"Really, I can't understand what you're trying to say! Can you speak English!?" Zakuro shouted in panic as Kirby swung at her with his stubby arms and punching her repeatedly. "Ow! I'm sorry! Geez, chill out!"

"Poyo poyo poyo!" Kirby shouted back, looking obviously upset that she couldn't understand what he was saying. He then leapt backwards, before giving her a quick roundhouse kick. The blow sent her flying to the right side of the Smashville stage.

"Ow!" Zakuro took out a black parasol, before jabbing it at the pink hero of Dreamland. "Taste parasols, you puffball!"

Kirby just decided to swallow it. Zakuro stood and stared in horror, until Kirby spat out the parasol and immediately conjured up a parasol of his own. Heck, he had a similar outfit to Zakuro's now, save for the fact that he was still a pufflball. He even had the same shade of hair that she had (probably a wig, but still), and he pointed the parasol at her, shouting out some more things in his language that she couldn't understand.

"...Dang it." Zakuro muttered, before Kirby leapt at her with his mini parasol raised high.

* * *

A lot of people were cringing, from Smashers to Eccentrics alike, as they watched Kirby basically pulverize Zakuro. The poor girl seemed to barely stand a chance so far against him.

"This is what happens when Kirby realizes you can't understand what he's saying." Fox muttered to Lyndon. "Do you understand him? I can't..."

"Yes, actually I can understand what he's saying..." Lyndon murmured back. "What he said just now before giving her the roundhouse kick went along the lines of 'You can't undestand me! Shame on you! Shame on you!'"

Fox stared at Lyndon. "You can understand that much!?" He asked, shocked.

Lyndon shrugged. "Hey, we assasins have to know tons of languages. A lot of them are drilled into our minds since childhood. We had to master at least three languages before being allowed to touch our first stun gun. I know English, French, Japanese, German, Italian, Latin, Korean, Chinese and Russian, as well as Kirby's own language-I forget what the official name for it is. I'm currently trying to learn Swahili."

Fox's eyes just widened even more. "You learned Kirby's language when you were a little kid!?"

Lyndon nodded once. "Yup. It was either that or Pig Latin, and I'm sure Pig Latin isn't an official language..."

Fox just face-palmed himself. "You assasins are so crazy..." He muttered under his breath, before continuing to watch the match.

* * *

"Okay, okay, this just sucks!" Zakuro shouted as Kirby whacked her for the fourth time with his mini parasol. "That's it, I'm not going to just let myself get beaten up so easily! Prepare for my wrath you puffball!" She shouted, whacking Kirby with her parasol as if she were a baseball player. Kirby, not expecting the attack, was launched all the way to the other side of the main platform. Kirby jumped up, about to perform a Drill Kick attack when all of a sudden, he felt himself get pulled to the ground as something wrapped around his left foot.

Looking up, he realized that it was a chain restraining his left foot from doing anything. And holding the other end of the chain was Zakuro. This was not good.

Before the puffball could react, the gothic-lolita-styled Eccentric started to whip the chain around like it was a lasso. Kirby let out a panicked shriek of "POYO!" but struggling was not going to help here, unfortunately. Finally she let Kirby go free, sending him into the sky.

She looked up quietly, unsure if he would become a speck in the horizon or if the puffball was still on his way there. Unfortunately, she was wrong on both assumptions.

She heard a loud 'thump' and the Eccentric turned to see Kirby on the ground in his Stone form for a moment, before he transformed back to normal. Kirby just smiled at her, before holding up his stubby right arm. In its arm held the end of the chain that once restrained him. Her eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do.

"Oh snap." Zakuro spoke, before Kirby suddenly started pulling on the chain. She pulled back, not wanting to get dragged towards him.

* * *

"First we have someone who can possibly surpass Sonic in a race." Ike spoke, gesturing to Xeraphina. "Then we have a guy who uses his top hat as a boomerang." He pointed at Andre as he continued. "Then we have another crossdresser-" He glanced at Amelia, "And now we've got a game of tug-of-war!? This is getting really crazy!"

"I know..." Pit trailed off. "Man, I didn't think the newcomers were so crazy..."

* * *

The two fighters persisted on this sudden game of tug-of-war. Neither one wanted to lose.

Of course, the game couldn't go on forever, could it?

Zakuro noticed Kirby relax his grip on the chain slightly, before suddenly pulling the chain towards him. Along came Zakuro, who flipped over him and found herself hanging from the ledge, still gripping onto the chain.

"Oh snap..." Zakuro trailed off as she looked down, before looking upwards. Kirby just waved, before letting go of the chain. "AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

**_GAME!_**

* * *

"I can't believe he-he-he-" Zakuro started as soon as she returned to the Viewing Room. "He swallowed my parasol! And then he became a miniature version of me! And then he won a game of tug-of-war against me! Dang it!" She finished, stamping her foot in frustration.

"Oh, Zakuro..." Xeraphina trailed off. "It's alright. I'm sure you'll win next time." Zakuro just nodded, as Master Hand congratulated Kirby on his win.

_"And now, the Smashers and Eccentrics are tied 2 to 2." _Master Hand started. _"The final fighters will be..."_

Only the Smashers side was switching faces, as it was obvious the only Eccentric left was Lyndon. Everyone tensed up, wondering who would be the one challenging the assasin. Finally, it stopped on someone from Star Fox...To be more specific, on someone who rivalled Team Star Fox with a passion.

_"Wolf vs. Lyndon!"_

Wolf just gave a grin. "Well, I get to go up against the assasin? Sounds like my kind of ideal match." He responded as he faced Lyndon. Lyndon just gave him an indifferent expression, but Wolf knew that there was some sort of spark in his eyes that he just couldn't hide. It wasn't fear, nor was it anger or anything like that. It was interest and curiosity, and Wolf had a feeling Lyndon seemed to be dying to try to fight against him.

Before Master Hand could announce what the stage was, the TV screen suddenly broke down.

_"Crap." _Master Hand muttered, before turning to the Smashers. _"I'm afraid we have some sudden techinical difficulties, so the match will be moved to tomorrow morning after breakfast. In the meantime..." _He glanced at the clock, before continuing. _"Please, all of you get to know each other! We will have a dinner banquet tonight for the newcomers, and before and after then, it would be good if you all got along. Thank you for your attention, everyone. You are dismissed."_

"Dang it..." Amelia trailed off, letting out a sigh. "I was hoping that we would get to see an awesome match..."

"Well, I'm sure all of us could use a break from the excitement, sister." Andre replied quietly. "Besides, it would be nice to get to know the other Smashers, too."

As everyone turned to leave and go wherever they felt like in the Smash Mansion, they stopped as soon as they heard Lyndon speak.

"You boy. The blond one." He spoke, pointing at Lucas. "What is your name?"

"L-Lucas..." The kid Smasher trailed off, his eyes widening slightly with fear. Lyndon just smiled at him a little.

"When I'm done with Wolf, kid, I'll be sure to challenge you next. Just thought I'd give you a heads up." He spoke, before his facial expression turned back to indifference and he walked away quietly. Everyone else exchanged weirded-out glances. Why would Lyndon want to challenge Lucas already? How did he find interest in such a Smasher as him, anyway?


	7. First Impression

_7. First Impression_

"Wait, mister Lyndon!" Lucas shouted as he ran after Lyndon, who walked a lot faster than the Smasher realized. "Please, I need to ask you something!"

He had to know why Lyndon had specifically challenged him to a battle once he was done with Wolf. Why? He didn't get it, and-

Before Lucas realized it, Lyndon was pointing a dagger at his throat. Lucas swallowed nervously as he looked up at the assasin, before Lyndon let out a quiet sigh and withdrew the dagger, getting onto a knee to make better eye contact with him. "What is it, kid?" Lyndon asked quietly, his head tilted to the side slightly. "Ask quickly."

"Well-" Lucas faltered for a moment, before blurting out, "Why did you challenge me to a battle once you're done with Wolf? I don't get it..."

"Child." Lyndon replied sharply, looking straight into the kid Smasher's eyes. "The reason why I challenged _you _is not because I want to rip to shreds, I assure you. I'm saving that for Wolf. It's because of the impression you gave me when I first laid my eyes on you. If any normal enemy saw you, they might think you're weak, considering the fact that you are a child. But I don't think so, not like them. You are a _strong_ child underneath your appearance, I can _see_ that from the moment I laid eyes on you, and I want to see how strong you are. That's all."

With those words being said, he started to walk away again, but Lucas stopped him.

"But-but-What made you think I was strong when you first saw me?" He asked, still confused.

"I did not say I _thought _that you were strong." Lyndon replied, turning to face him once more. His gaze was like ice, and Lucas thought he might freeze at the cold stare he was given. "Again, I said it was because of the _impression _you gave me. I'm merely relying on my instincts, boy. That is all."

With that, he just walked away again. Mewtwo started to pass by Lyndon, and the two paused to exchange glances before walking off.

* * *

"Man, I didn't think Amelia would actually be able to pull off a Final Smash like that." Roy remarked to Lucario as the two walked down the hall. "Every time that clock chimes, you feel a different type of pain? That's really got to hurt..."

_"You can bet it did." _Lucario responded quietly. _"I wasn't expecting it, either. I don't believe there is any way to dodge that Final Smash, unlike Meta Knight's or Zelda's Final Smashes. I think it's a lot like Kirby's Final Smash; everyone gets stuck in it unless you either switch Pokemon or change transformations at the same time..."_

The two were silent for a moment, before Roy spoke up again. "What do you think about Andre? He was pretty strong, even though he lost against Link..."

_"The top-hat boomerang was an interesting idea, and definitely one an enemy wouldn't expect. But in terms of throwing those rose darts, I think he would have to work on that a bit." _

"And I agree, Lucario." The two turned to see Andre, with his arms crossed. "You know, talking about people behind their back isn't really polite." He stated gently. The Eccentric's facial expression was crossed between complete upset and a bit of a stern look. "I'm dissapointed. I am aware of my weaknesses, and you don't have to talk about it behind my back. Say it to my face next time." With that being said, he started to walk away.

"Hey-uh-" Roy stuttered, before composing himself. "Dude, wait! We're sorry, we-" He started, but Andre cut him off.

"Save me the false apologies, Roy." The blond muttered, before walking away. "The only reason you apologize, I bet, is to be polite, and you probably would rather take Link's side if Zelda were to choose one of us, right?"

* * *

Xeraphina quietly collapsed into the nearest armchair as soon as she walked in the lounge. She was a little tired from all the matches, and it would be nice to sit and think for at least a moment. "I wonder..." She trailed off absentmindedly. "Are the others getting along with the Smashers?"

_"I'm not sure if I should say 'yes' or 'no' to that matter, since I'm seeing that some are already clashing with one another, but others get along quite well." _She looked up, seeing a familiar psychic Pokemon float into the room, facing her. She'd seen him in the back while she conversed with the other Smashers, prior to the matches.

"I don't believe we have conversed with each other yet." Xeraphina spoke quietly, her head tilting a bit to the side. "You know me as Xeraphina. I battled Pit earlier and won."

_"Of course." _The other responded, nodding once. _"I am Mewtwo...Created from the greed and filth of mankind. And I do congratulate you for your victory."_

"Thank you." Xeraphina stood to try and make better eye contact with him. "And, pray tell, why did you decide to talk with me earlier? And what do you mean exactly by the 'greed and filth' of mankind, per se? Would you tell me? I'm fond of stories. And if it is as personal as you make it sound, I will not tell a soul."

_"Alright." _Mewtwo responded almost immediately to her request. He found her a bit more intriguing, but just telling her his background wouldn't do him any good. _"But on one condition...That I get to battle you, and if I win, you tell me about your background, too."_

Xeraphina looked slightly confused at that statement. "But, Master Hand did say that the Smash System was suffering some malfunctions. How are we supposed to battle with the Smash System in that state?"

Mewtwo's mouth turned upwards in a slight smirk. _"Who said anything about battling each other using the Smash System, hm? There are other places to fight at, Xeraphina."_

Xeraphina's lips turned into a smirk that easily imitated his. "I see what you mean. It's a deal."

Things were going to get interesting from here.

* * *

"Hey...Where's Xeraphina?"

"Has anyone seen Mewtwo?"

Lyndon looked up, hearing some of the Smashers and Eccentrics talking with each other. Mewtwo and Xeraphina were missing? Wait a moment-

Lyndon thought back to when he passed Mewtwo earlier. The psychic Pokemon had a smirk on his face when the two exchanged glances...

"Dang it." Lyndon muttered, before starting to pick up his current walking pace. "Don't tell me Mewtwo's gotten an interest in her combat-wise or anything else of the sorts..."


	8. Sparring Partners

_8. Sparring Partners_

Andre walked down the hall silently, not bothering to really talk with any of the people passing him by at the moment. He couldn't get himself to, not since what happened moments earlier with him hearing the other Smashers talking behind his back about, well, him.

Lucario and Roy. Andre gritted his teeth slightly at the two talking about him. If they had a problem with him not faring well with throwing roses as darts, why didn't they just say it to his face in the first place? And they were even talking about his sister, too! Sure, it was of admiration, but still, he didn't find it all very nice for people to go talking about him and his half-sister behind his back. It reminded him of _those _days, when those stupid, stupid people-

"Andre?"

The blond-haired Eccentric turned to face Peach, a concerned look on her face. She paused, before speaking again.

"You don't look too alright, Andre. Is there something wrong? You can talk with me about it over tea if you want."

He nodded once, before responding quietly. "Tea would be most needed for me right now, as well as bit of venting, I suppose. I thank you for now allowing yourself to be a venting post to what I'm going to tell you about."

* * *

Xeraphina let out a quick gasp of pain as she hit the ground for probably the twentieth time. She slowly got up, and quickly rolled to the left before a Psybeam attack could hit her. She grinned a little as she brushed one of her blue locks of hair out of her face, to look up at her sparring partner.

"You're remarkably more agile than I predicted." She spoke as Mewtwo readied a Shadow Ball. "Then again, I should have noticed, considering that you have psychic powers and the like." She rolled out of the way, dodging the Shadow Ball attack easily, before rushing towards the psychic Pokemon.

_"I didn't really think you were almost as fast as Sonic." _Mewtwo responded as he sidestepped a punch from Xeraphina. _"And really, those rainbow-coloured arms you can conjure out of thin air-Ack!" _The last part was because a rainbow-coloured arm slapped him in the face once. _"...They're very...Impressive." _Mewtwo finished lamely, before socking Xeraphina in the stomach with a Mega Punch attack.

Xeraphina staggered backwards, hesitating once as her eyes widened in shock, before suddenly speeding of sight. Mewtwo didn't understand her sudden look of panic, until he was suddenly tackled down by the Eccentric. A bullet sailed over their heads as they landed on the grassy ground. Xeraphina rolled off Mewtwo before helping him up, and the two turned to see Lyndon, pointing a gun at the both of them. He didn't look too happy, and Xeraphina let out a sigh.

"What is it now, Lyndon?" The blue-haired Eccentric asked, crossing her arms. "Are you just bloody mad that I got to spar with Mewtwo?"

"Oh, I'm not just bloody mad. I'm pissed." Lyndon responded, still pointing the gun at them. "Though, I might forgive you if I get to join and become a permanent sparring partner to Mewtwo. I need to keep up my practice, even if I'm not a working assasin. You know that, Xeraphina."

Xeraphina turned to Mewtwo. "I'm going to suggest that if you don't say yes, things will get very messy. And you don't want that." She spoke.

Mewtwo just gave a quiet nod to Xeraphina before turning to Lyndon. _"Show me the extent of your power then, Lyndon. If you win, we'll be sparring partners. If not, you'll have to search for someone else." _

Lyndon's once-upset facial expression turned into a smirk. "Game on."

* * *

Andre sighed as he sipped his cup of tea. "I can't believe they would talk about me and my sister behind my back like that." He finished. "I find it quite troubling, and a nuisance."

Peach, sitting across him at the small table, gave a quiet nod before responding. "I understand your frustration. A lot of the Smashers ridiculed me at first for using a frying pan in battle." She started. "I don't think Lucario and Roy meant any harm to you or Amelia through their words. It's no wonder you don't like it considering that people back where you came from did that so much and so negatively; but anywhere you go, everyone has their opinions about pretty much everyone. It's unavoidable, Andre. I'm sure the other Smashers will warm up to you and the other Eccentrics eventually and start treating you more like equals. It just takes time and patience, and effort, too."

Andre nodded once, looking downwards. "Perhaps I should apologize to Roy and Lucario for my unruly behaviour earlier. It wasn't in my place, and it never should be." He murmured quietly, before sipping his tea again. He then paused before asking, "You use a frying pan in battle? Did I hear that correctly?"

"Yes." Peach responded, smiling a little. "I know it's really weird, but I've actually done a lot of damage to enemies with a frying pan alone. I won't lie about that."

"I find it interesting. I never thought at all in my life that any cooking utensil besides a cleaver would serve as a decent weapon. It's quite innovative." He responded.

"I don't know. A boomerang top-hat certainly seems to be far more innovative than that, as you demonstrated in your match against Link." Peach responded, and the two chuckled at the thought.

Andre then hesitated, before speaking. "Peach, do you know if Zelda and Link are...Together? In a romantic sort of sense? I'm just wondering..."

* * *

Xeraphina watched the two spar, over and over again. She wasn't sure how long it took for them to eventually weaken and collapse onto the ground, but the two pretty much collapsed at the same time. Both looked completely exhausted, and she knew that they were too tired to battle anymore.

"Crap. Dang it..." Lyndon breathed as he looked up at Mewtwo. "You're good."

_"You're just as good." _Mewtwo responded, also taking a deep breath before continuing. _"You win."_

"No." The former assasin murmured as he stood up. "You win. You inflicted more damage on me."

The psychic Pokemon sighed. _"Can we just call this a draw?"_

"Fine." The two eventually stood up, exchanging similar glances.

Xeraphina just smiled a little. Things seemed to be looking up, and even though she didn't really get to fight against Mewtwo since Lyndon intervened, the two were becoming good sparring partners if not completely accquaintances/friends at the least. It was progress.


	9. Dance with me

_9. Dance with me_

The hours steadily moved through the afternoon, and into the evening. Along with the hours, new rumours and information sprung up in the Smashers' conversations, from the sparring match between Mewtwo, Lyndon and Xeraphina to Andre clashing with Lucario and Roy. It seemed to unnerve some Smashers, while it brought interest to others. Who in the world could ever be annoyed with Lucario, and why the sudden sparring match, anyway?

Now, it was almost late in the evening at the Welcome Banquet for the Eccentrics, and while some were dancing, some were standing at the sidelines and continuing to chat with each other. Mewtwo, wearing the usual black cloak obscuring most of his body from view, was no exception from being a wallflower; it wasn't really like him to go out on the floor and dance with someone, anyway.

"Hmm...'Tis a lovely evening, don't you think so?" Mewtwo turned to see Xeraphina standing beside him as she sipped a glass of fruit punch, before spitting back into the cup. "Ah, darn it...Who spiked the punch?" She muttered as she let one of her hands run through her light blue hair.

_"It's probably one of the villain Smashers. Almost half of all the males got drunk last year because of that, and I have no doubt it possibly may happen again." _Mewtwo responded, crossing his arms. _"I also do agree it is lovely weather for this evening, but I certainly thought you would be dancing with Lyndon." _He added, gesturing to Lyndon, dressed in a black tuxedo and leaning against the wall with a blank expression on his face.

"Lyndon doesn't really feel up for it right now. I think it's because he's too tired from the sparring match earlier. You did beat him up pretty well." Xeraphina responded. Her usual dress was replaced with something much fancier, a light blue blouse with a white ribbon at the collar, with black dress pants and shoes. "Actually, I think you've done the best job of being a sparring partner for Lyndon, and that's saying something considering he's a well-trained former assasin who still keeps up his training if not his practice."

_"Thank you." _The psychic Pokemon responded. The two were silent, before Xeraphina spoke up.

"Hey. Considering you're a wallflower currently, and I'd like to dance with a partner, how about we dance with each other, Mewtwo?"

Mewtwo gave her a somewhat intrigued look in response. _"I'm not sure if I can really dance, per se, but I suppose I could try." _He spoke, shrugging slightly.

Xeraphina just grinned, before dumping her plastic cup of fruit punch into a nearby garbage can and dragging the psychic Pokemon onto the dance floor.

* * *

"Zelda?" Zelda turned to see Andre, walking over to her. The Eccentric, wearing a creamy-white tux, hesitated before speaking. "I was wondering...Perhaps you would like to dance with me?" He asked, smiling a bit.

"I would be delighted to." Zelda responded, before the two departed towards the dance floor.

Zakuro grinned as she watched the two dance together. "Aww, you know, they look kind of cute together." She remarked to Nana. The gothic-lolita Eccentric was wearing a black dress with tons of frills again, except there was red combined with it instead of white or grey. Her shoes were black still, and her socks were also black. "I also heard that Andre might like Zelda a bit? Is this true?"

"I don't know for sure, but it sounds a lot like it..." Nana trailed off, before taking notice of something. "Whoa, is that Mewtwo? Dancing with Xeraphina? That's interesting..."

Zakuro smiled even more. "Yeah, sure is! I didn't know Mewtwo could dance so well...Hm, maybe I'll ask him to dance with me after he's done with Xeraphina..."

"I didn't even know Mewtwo could dance, period..." Nana trailed off as she continued to watch. Mewtwo twirled Xeraphina once, before the two continued their slow waltz.

* * *

"Amelia?" Samus spoke aloud, looking around. "Where did she go now..." She muttered aloud as she approached the balcony. "Ameli-oof!" The last part was due to her running into Zelda. "Sorry, Zelda..."

"It's no problem." Zelda reassured her, looking around. "Have you seen Andre? I wanted to thank him for dancing with me earlier, and I lost sight of him-"

She stopped mid-sentence as soon as the two entered the balcony.

In the middle of the balcony, Amelia sat on a chair as her slender, creamy-white gloved hands glided over a large, delicate harp's strings. Her ankle-length dress was a creamy-white, with a long, dark brown vest overtop. A leather belt hung on her waist, with a small mahogany pouch dangling from it. Her dark brown slippers adorned her feet, which were crossed at the ankles temporarily before they uncrossed.

Leaning against the railing of the balcony only a few paces away from Amelia was Andre, with his arms crossed and a quiet smile on his face as he listened to the melody.

Neither Smasher had no idea what the heck was going on completely. As much as the music was lovely, it didn't help them clear up their confusion.

Andre applauded Amelia as the tune drifted into nothingness. "That was brilliant, Amelia. Simply...Brilliant."

"Thank you, brother." The steampunk-styled Eccentric responded as she stood to face Andre, who was walking towards her. "I always wanted to play the harp more often. You know that. Since being forced to leave our home due to Subspace...I've had more time then I've ever had before, really, even though I was allowed to play it whenever I wanted during my spare time back then. It's kind of a bittersweet fact to ponder on."

"Indeed. Bittersweet, for losing our home to Subspace, but..." Her brother gently embraced her with steady arms. "If it's changed our lives for the better at the end of it all, I'd say it's leaning towards something more wonderful, especially since when we started travelling with Xeraphina. We no longer have the society of our past to judge us for our true colours."

Both Zelda and Samus exchanged even more confused glances. They had never seen any pair of siblings hug each other that closely. Nana and Popo didn't even come that close. And what was it about Andre speaking about the 'society of our past?' Perhaps they weren't as well-liked back then? Perhaps because they seemed so close, like some romantic couple in one of those well-done romance stories?

Both Smashers decided to let the two siblings have their privacy, and they left.

* * *

Lyndon lay on his back, looking up at the night-sky, swirling with the moon and stars. He never really liked parties too much, and slipping out when he had the chance was always nice. Being on the rooftops gave him the solitude he wanted, and the time to ponder over things.

He'd heard and seen Andre and Amelia at the balcony earlier. He also noticed Zelda and Samus peeping in on such a private moment, and he gritted his teeth slightly at the thought. If he had been put in a match with them instead of Wolf, he would rip them to shreds for intruding on the silbings' moment together.

Well, Wolf could do as a replacement for those Smashers. But just because he wasn't Zelda or Samus didn't mean he wasn't going to be ripped to shreds as much.


	10. Wolf vs Lyndon

_10. Wolf vs. Lyndon_

Olimar woke up just as a dart barely avoided hitting his face. The Smasher immediately jumped out of bed, looking around frantically to see Lyndon, who was about to throw another dart and hesitated as soon as he saw Olimar.

"My apologies, Olimar. I was practicing..." Lyndon trailed off sheepishly, before pointing at something behind Olimar. "Throwing darts, knives, that kind of stuff. I did this all the time during the past when I worked as an assassin. I was going to move on to the knives next, but I figured I would wake you up before then..."

Olimar looked at him, confused, before grabbing a writing pad and a pencil. He immediately wrote a question and showed it to the former assassin.

_You practice throwing darts right above a sleeping person early in the morning?_

"Yes. It's part of one of my ways to assassinate sleeping people. I throw a dart at a breakable thing, and as soon as the person wakes up I kill them. Of course, if I'm out of darts by then I just smother them in their sleep. It's not much of a problem for the dart strategy, but it's a little harder to smother. Especially if said victim wakes up and tries to hurt you." Lyndon responded, before taking several darts out of the wall. Olimar even noticed there was even a mini dart-board pinned to the wall, too, for Lyndon to throw at.

_Um...Lyndon...I hate to ask, considering that you want to train, but can you do it at a place that's considerably safer for more living beings? Or at least not in this room?_

The silver-haired Eccentric paused, before nodding. "Sure. I'll just go to the rooftops and hang out there until breakfast." He responded, before taking the dart-board off the wall and starting to leave the room. "By the way, it's only 5:30 a.m. and wake-up call isn't until 7:30. I suggest you might want to go back to sleep now."

_...Darn it._

* * *

Two hours later, wake-up call occurred. And usually how this wake-up call happened was by Master Hand sending all the Alloys to bang on the doors, accompanied by terrible screeching cat noises in the background. Needless to say, no one was particularly pleased. Of course, Lyndon wasn't around to witness it, since he was on the rooftops practicing. That didn't mean he couldn't hear it, though.

Before anyone could yell at the Alloys to make them shut up, Lyndon had already gotten back into the building and assassinated half the Alloys before finishing off the rest. All of the Smashers stared at the silver-haired Eccentric in awe.

"What?" Lyndon spoke after a few moments of awkward silence. "The terrible screeching sounded like people dying. I thought those things were going to commit homicide to the rest of you..." Before he could continue, a terrible cat screech echoed from a nearby speaker, and Lyndon pulled out a gun and shot the speaker, destroying it as a result. "There we go...That's much better, don't you think?"

Most of the Smashers were too terrified to respond.

* * *

"Do you think Lyndon is insane?"

Ike turned to face Roy, who had asked the question. The two were eating breakfast in the dining hall, and obviously the subject on most of everyone's minds was the match between Lyndon and Wolf this morning of who would win and why.

"What do you think Lyndon is insane?" Ike asked, curious that Roy would ask such a question. "I mean, sure, he's an assassin, but do you seriously think he doesn't have mental sanity?"

"Yes." Roy responded, just as someone else spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but I heard you both mention my name and the word 'insane,' so I was wondering if there was anything about me that irked you in particular."

The two nearly let out a scream as soon as they realized that the assassin was standing right behind them.

"H-how did you get over here so quickly!?" Roy exclaimed. "You-you were over there just now!" He spoke, pointing across the table to where Lyndon once sat.

"Don't ask." Lyndon muttered, before concentrating his focus on Ike. "What is it about me that you two were talking about?" He asked as a sharper tone leaked into his voice. Several of the Smashers took notice of what was happening, and observed the scene.

Ike swallowed, before speaking. He had a bad feeling that Lyndon would rip him to shreds as soon as he told the truth. "We were wondering if you have any mental sanity. Roy brought up the question..." He trailed off awkwardly.

Lyndon merely appeared to smile. "Thank you for your upfront honesty. And yes, I am sane. Otherwise, I would be in a sanatorium wearing a straightjacket, right?" He casually walked back to his seat, before sitting down.

Wolf observed the assassin sitting across from him as he nibbled away at a single piece of toast. _He doesn't eat much, huh? Maybe it's assassin training or whatever. The same probably goes for him being able to hear Ike and Roy's conversation from across the table, too. He's no regular human, that's for sure-_

Wolf's eyes widened as soon as Lyndon made quiet eye contact with him. Wolf looked away, pausing before looking at Lyndon again.

The assassin still had his eyes trained on Wolf, and the once-gentle gaze became one of malice.

_This doesn't look good..._

* * *

_"And now, we will start the match! Lyndon versus Wolf!" _Master Hand announced as the two fighters entered the arena. _"The stage will be...Final Destination!"_

The stage transformed into one large single platform, with stars swirling about in the dark background. Lyndon looked around quietly, before speaking.

"I find it to be quite fascinating..." Lyndon trailed off. "And even better; there's no place to hide for either of us. That makes for a perfect final match... Heh, don't you think so too, Wolf?"

**_Game start!_**

* * *

"I wonder if Wolf will even make it out alive." Falco and Fox heard Andre remark quietly.

"What do you mean, _'make it out alive?'_ Does Lyndon usually kill his opponents?" Falco asked the top-hatted Eccentric.

"Well..." Andre cringed slightly. "He does have quite the history of killing anyone that opposes him. Of course, it's decreased since he left his assassinating ways, but it still occurs sometimes..."

"That doesn't sound good..." Fox trailed off as the three resumed watching the match.

* * *

Wolf immediately took out his blaster and started shooting at the assassin, who ducked and dodged every shot, taking out his own revolver and shooting back at Wolf. Wolf ducked, before shooting back at him. The shooting match seemed to continue for a bit, before Lyndon suddenly disappeared from view.

"What the heck?" Wolf spoke up, looking around. "Where did he-"

He was sent sprawling to ground as a force slammed into him out of nowhere. He got up quickly, seeing Lyndon stand a few paces away from him.

"Here's a tip for staying alive...It's called 'brace yourself for the worst and run when you can.' You want to jump off the stage now? Go ahead." Lyndon drawled, ending with a smirk.

"As if I'm going to give up that easily!" Wolf snapped back, taking out his blaster and starting to shoot at Lyndon again. The assassin quickly sidestepped the attacks as if he'd expected it for days, before rushing at Wolf and landing a strong kick in the chest. Again, the Smasher was sent sprawling to the ground, but Wolf shot once at Lyndon, aiming for his head.

Lyndon merely tilted his head, avoiding the bullet that was aimed at him. "You're going to have to do better than that." He murmured quietly, before suddenly disappearing again. Wolf looked around, trying to find the assassin, but Lyndon suddenly appeared from behind and held a knife to his throat, holding his head back with the other hand.

* * *

"This doesn't look good..." Ike trailed off quietly as he watched Wolf struggle against Lyndon's restraints. "Dang it..."

Mewtwo observed Lyndon quietly. The assassin seemed to show a blank face, but if one looked closely enough...There was malice in those eyes, full of fury.

* * *

"Wolf." Lyndon spoke after a moment of silence as Wolf continued to struggle against Lyndon restraining him. "I was on the rooftops last night, and I happened to witness two Smashers intruding on two of my allies' private moment at the balcony, and they didn't even apologize...Do you want to guess who they are? I'll give you three guesses. Get it right, and I'll let you shoot me once. Get it wrong and you'll be ripped to shreds."

"Are you trying to play games with me!?" Wolf snarled back, but he felt the knife get even closer to his throat. "Fine, fine! I'll start guessing!"

"Good." Lyndon hissed quietly in response. "It would be a _pity_ to finish you off now, anyway. I'm saving the best for last."

"Um...Okay, who would be stupid enough to intrude on someone's private moment?" Wolf muttered aloud. "Let me guess, Falco and Fox were drunk at the time and they happened to see it?"

"No." Lyndon murmured back. He pressed the blade a millimeter closer to Wolf's throat. "Guess again."

"...Two of the Pokemon?"

"Nope."

"Argh, dang it!" Wolf muttered in frustration. "Who is it!?"

Lyndon paused, before pushing Wolf out of his grasp suddenly and stabbing him in the stomach with the knife. "Zelda and Samus." Lyndon spoke in response as he pulled out the knife quickly. Wolf collapsed to his knees in pain. A flash of light appeared from above, and the two looked up to see the Smash Ball appear. "Hm. Looks like it's time for the finale, isn't it?"

As Lyndon advanced towards the Smash Ball, Wolf tried to stand. He found it hard to do so, with pain and an open wound crippling him, but he managed it after a moment or two of struggling. He then held up his blaster, before shooting at Lyndon.

The bullet hit Lyndon in the back. The silver-haired Eccentric let out a gasp, not expecting the attack, and crumpled to the floor for a moment. Just as soon as he fell, though, he got back up quickly, before turning towards Wolf.

"Nice shot. I'll give you credit for that." He spoke, smirking a bit. "I can't say the same for you winning the match, though..." He pointed his knife upwards, before throwing it at the Smash Ball. The Smash Ball shattered upon impact, showering Lyndon in a rainbow-coloured aura. _"Final Smash activate...Reaper's Kiss."_

Before Wolf could even ask himself what the heck Lyndon meant, the assassin suddenly disappeared, and the stage went dark. Wolf looked around, trying to find Lyndon in the darkness when all of a sudden, he felt pain ripping across his body several times, as if several razor-sharp blades were cutting into it. He then collapsed, his body too weakened to continue battling.

**_GAME!_**

* * *

"Oh gosh...Wolf!" Fox shouted as he rushed into the arena. The other Smashers immediately followed suite, running to the stage and speaking to each other.

"Wolf-Oh man, he's bleeding!"

"We need to get him to the hospital wing, _now!"_

_"Hurry!"_

"Hang on, Wolf!"

Lyndon just gave a dismal look at Wolf, before walking out of the arena. Lucas watched him leave, looked back at Wolf, and then ran after Lyndon.


	11. Good kid

_11. Good kid_

"Lyndon! Lyndon, wait up!" Lucas shouted as he frantically tried to catch up with Lyndon. The assasin was quite a fast walker, so it wasn't easy for Lucas to keep track of him. "Wait-aah!" The last part was due to him tripping onto the grassy ground.

Lyndon turned, seeing Lucas, before walking over to the boy and helping him up. "What is it, kid?" He asked quietly, gazing at Lucas with a somewhat different gaze than usual. The look in his rose-quartz eyes wasn't of malice, nor was it of indifference. It was...Something else. Lucas couldn't put his finger on what, exactly.

"Why did you hurt Wolf that much?" The psychic Smasher asked.

Lyndon gave him a look that said, _Really? That question? _"Isn't it obvious?" Lyndon responded, crossing his arms. "Two of the Smashers intruded upon my allies' private moment together. It's obvious they should pay for that."

"But does it have to be through violence!? And why Wolf, if he's not even one of them?"

Lyndon let out a sigh, shaking his head quietly before responding. "Look, kid-" He started, but Lucas interrupted.

"My name is Lucas! Please, I don't want to be called 'kid' all the time. I don't like that..."

"Lucas." Lyndon interrupted the young Smasher. "As far as I know, no one learns a lesson well-enough until after an act of malice as strong as what I did. Scolding and light beatings don't get you anywhere. And why Wolf? It's to show all the Smashers that they better not screw with my friends and get away with it like that unless they apologize at the least. Now please, leave me alone..."

Lyndon turned, before starting to walk off. Or at least, he would have started walking away if Lucas did not suddenly speak up.

"...I don't think violence can be used to solve everything."

Lyndon turned, looking at Lucas. The kid looked...Awfully upset. Lyndon mentally sweatdropped as he reapproached Lucas, before going down on a knee and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, look, don't cry..." Lyndon sighed, before continuing. "C'mon, wipe those tears. You think violence can't be used to solve everything...And that is true. No one really realizes it, though, and if they do they never act on it. You're a good kid, Lucas. Don't lose sight of that." He handed Lucas a tissue quietly. The boy hesitated, and Lyndon smiled a little. "I can assure you it's not poisoned or the like." Lucas just nodded once, before wiping his face with the tissue.

"Thanks..."

As soon as Lucas finished wiping his face, Lyndon spoke up again. "...Do you always try to befriend all the lonely people?"

"Well-" Lucas paused, before composing himself and answering. "I don't like it when people are left alone. I don't think anyone would want to be completely alone..."

"Heh. You really are a good kid." Lyndon patted Lucas on the head with one hand, his smile widening a little. "The world needs more people like you, people that befriend the ones being left out because they have a dangerous background or character. You're a good kid, Lucas."

* * *

"Is Wolf alright?" Zelda asked.

Andre let out a quiet sigh. "Wolf is...Alive, according to Dr. Mario. I doubt Wolf be let out of the hospital wing until tomorrow at the earliest, though. Lyndon really cut him quite a bit. If he got anywhere close to the neck, Wolf could have possibly died from all the bleeding." The blond-haired Eccentric didn't look too pleased at saying the statement, but then he took a deep breath before speaking. "Of what Lyndon said earlier about you and Samus...Were you two at the balcony last night, and happened to see me and Amelia?"

Zelda knew she couldn't get her way out of this, and knew she had to tell the truth. "Yes." She spoke after a moment of hesitation. "We did. We didn't try to talk to you and left because we didn't want to disturb you and Amelia's romantic moment anytime soon-" She stopped as soon as she realized her mistake.

"Romantic moment?" Andre repeated, before letting out a quiet chuckle. "Ah, you must have seen us hug so closely, hm? Amelia and I are not in a romantic relationship, I can assure you, contrary to what you must have thought when you saw us. We share a very close bond as brother and sister. We were never let out of the house in our youth, so we had no one to play games with but each other." He smiled at her gently. "I suppose I will let you and Samus off this time, but please speak up if you see such a thing again. I don't think Amelia will be able to forgive you both so easily as I did-She has a little more of a temper than I do. And usually if someone did this sort of thing, I would be angrier too..."

* * *

"You bloody _peeped in_ on me and my brother!?" Ambrose snapped at Samus, his hands shaking as he restrained himself from pointing a gun at her. "You could have went up to us, politely interrupt and engage in small talk! There was no need to scurry away as if you both were spies or something!"

"I said I was sorry!" Samus responded, crossing her arms. "Ambrose, get a grip! You raging at me isn't going to help either of us!"

Ambrose immediately went silent, before sheathing his gun and letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry. Temper-Well, it's something I need to work with a bit more...Not like it's going to help me with trying to woo ladies..."

"Ambrose, you know you're a girl in reality-Don't you mean by trying to woo men?" Samus asked, slightly confused.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Samus, but I'm not a heterosexual woman in reality." Ambrose responded, shrugging a little bit. "I like people the same gender as me. I know from previous crushes...Two of them were on Zakuro and Xeraphina, but they're not into me. I'm over it now, and Xeraphina and Zakuro were completely fine about my sexuality so things were okay."

"Oh. I'm sorry..." Samus trailed off, cringing mentally. _And to think I assumed that you and your brother were in such a relationship-I really shouldn't assume things like that so quickly..._

"It's alright. A lot of people make that mistake, so you're not the first one." Ambrose reassured her. "Besides, I'm starting to get a little smitten for one of the girls in this building, anyway. It should prove well-enough that there's no way my brother and I could be in such a relationship. Right?"

"Yeah, okay...Thanks."

_I'm not lying about being smitten for a certain girl. _Ambrose thought to himself as he quickly changed back to who he was-Amelia, sister of Andre. _I'm starting to get a little smitten for, well, _you, _Samus. But I can't tell you yet..._

* * *

**Author note: Just thought I'd wish everyone Happy Easter! :) Thanks for all who have read and reviewed this fic so far!**


	12. Boredom

_12. Boredom_

"Ah, geez, I'm so bored. I wish something fun would happen." Zakuro muttered as she and the other kid Smashers sat on the ground in the courtyard. "I mean, we've done all sorts of things by now, but we've grown tired of 'em. This sucks..."

"Mwahahahaha!" Wario laughed as he suddenly ran past them. The kids stared in confusion, until they heard someone else screaming.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU CUR, OR ELSE I SWEAR I WON'T HOLD BACK ON BEATING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU IF YOU CONTINUE TO REFUSE TO GIVE ZELDA'S CROWN BACK!" All the kids turned to see Andre, trying his best to run after Wario, but he kept tripping over the hem of his long, cream-coloured dress, and-

Wait, what? _Dress?_

All the kids stared at Andre, who just got up from tripping for the third time. Andre stared back at them awkwardly, blushing slightly. "Andre, why the dress?" Zakuro asked, crossing her arms. "And what in the heck is going on?"

Andre seemed slightly annoyed, and still was blushing as he spoke. "The dress is due to a vast majority of my masculine attire in the wash and I had no other choice. The current situation is that I need to beat the living daylights out of Wario for stealing Zelda's crown for no good reason. Do I need to elaborate?"

"Nah."

Andre let out a sigh, before starting to run after Wario again. He didn't get far, though, by the next time he tripped and fell face-first into the ground again.

Zakuro turned to the other kids. "How about we go help Andre beat the living daylights out of Wario?" She suggested, grinning a bit.

"YEAAAAHHHH!" The others shouted, immediately taking out their mallets, pitchforks, swords and baseball bats (as well as torches) before rushing off in all sorts of directions.

* * *

Xeraphina let out a breath as Lyndon spoke up. "How long have we been fighting each other again?" Lyndon asked.

Mewtwo glanced at a nearby clock that was high up on a nearby wall. _"Approximately three hours, I believe." _The psychic Pokemon answered quietly. _"Should we take a break now, or continue our sparring session?"_

"Personally, I would wish to continue," Lyndon started, "But-"

"AAAAAAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!" The three turned around to see Wario driving past them on his motorcycle. A crowd of kid Smashers with Zakuro in tow let out some war cries as they chased the stout Smasher about. Andre tried to catch up, but he fell face-first on the ground again.

Xeraphina glanced at the kid Smashers and wario, before helping Andre get to his feet. "What's going on now?" She asked, curious of what was currently happening.

"Zelda got her crown stolen by Wario. I had to chase him. The kids joined in. End of story." Andre finished, before letting out a sigh. "Darn it, I hate wearing a dress...I don't get how people can wear these things sometimes. I mean, I understand that they look pretty and all, but they're terrible for running about in..."

Lyndon let out a sigh, shaking his head. "I'll go kill Wario. Andre, you can just stand aside and watch me maul him for you. Sounds good?" He muttered under his breath, before running off.

Xeraphina turned to Mewtwo. "Where were we earlier before everything else happened just now?" She asked.

_"Do you want to continue fighting, or should we take a break? Lyndon was going to give his opinion on the matter when everything that just happened, well, happened." _Mewtwo ended awkwardly.

Xeraphina just smiled a bit. "I think we can take a break. It'll be quite the spectacle to see Wario get chased by the kids and Lyndon, anyway."

* * *

_"Explain to me what happened." _Master Hand snapped furiously. Wario, the kid Smashers, Mewtwo, Zakuro, Lyndon, Xeraphina, and Andre stood in front of his desk. They all paused, before starting to yell out their answers simultaneously.

"We were BORED! We didn't know what else to do!"

"Wario stole Zelda's crown for no reason and I had to beat the living daylights out of him for that! Only, well, I couldn't catch up because of a lack of masculine clothing to wear..."

"...I thought it would be okay to beat the living daylights out of Wario for Andre."

"Mewtwo and I were taking a break from our sparring session by watching the whole thing, and besides, Lyndon wasn't going to kill Wario!"

_"I don't know how I got dragged into this ridiculous situation by just simply watching what was going on..."_

Master Hand let out a groan, before speaking up again. _"Look, as much as I appreciate your, ahem, enthusiastic mingling, I cannot allow this chaos to happen everyday all because someone steals someone else's property. Do you have any idea how many Smashers were sent to the infirmary today because of this?"_

Everyone else exchanged somewhat-confused glances, before Lyndon spoke up.

"I think it ended up being around five to six Smashers, if I counted correctly by the time you sent us to your office."

Master Hand mentally face-palmed himself. _"That was a rhetorical question, Lyndon." _He muttered quietly.

"Oh. Sorry."

_"Please, if you need to resolve something like this, just tell me about the situation or try to clear things up amongst yourselves in a non-destructive way." _Master Hand finished. _"You are all dismissed."_

* * *

"Does this sort of thing happen often?" Ambrose asked Snake, who nodded once. The two had just heard about the previous hour's events, involving a cross-dressing Andre and a beaten-up Wario. It also included a Zakuro, kid Smashers, an amused Xeraphina and a intrigued Mewtwo.

"At least once a week." The bandanna-wearing Smasher responded, crossing his arms. "I have a feeling you might be pulled into something like that at least a few times a month."

"...Great."


	13. For you

_13. For you_

Lyndon stood by Wolf's bedside quietly, looking down at the battered and scarred Smasher, with a blank look on his face.

_Fractured collarbone, would've been concussed...Multiple scars due to knife wounds, bruises around neck due to a near strangulation attempt..._

He put a small 'Get Well Soon' card on the bedtable before turning to leave the room.

_You better get well soon, Wolf. I want to spar against you again-more fairly, of course, than what happened during our match-and I think it would be good for you-and me. To restrain me from creating more bloody corpses and for you to sharpen up your fighting skills. Alright?_

Lyndon smirked, before he turned to walk down the hallway.

_But for now, I've got myself one or two Smashers to fight first. The first one I'll be going all out, but the second I have to take it easy, since he's a kid. I'll be back as soon as I can, Wolf._

* * *

"Um...Zelda?"

Zelda turned to see Andre, who took a deep breath before holding out the crown to her.

"For you." He spoke quietly, somewhat looking at the floor. The top-hatted Eccentric seemed to blush slightly with embarrassment (probably due to the fact that he was still wearing a dress in front of her, Zelda assumed). "I apologize for have taken so long to retrieve your crown."

"Thank you, Andre. And it's no trouble at all time-wise." Zelda responded, smiling and putting the crown back on her head. "I am curious, though...Why are you wearing a dress right now?"

Andre let out a sigh, before explaining for the third time this afternoon. "A vast majority of my masculine attire is in the wash." He responded, crossing his arms a bit. "Hopefully I'll be able to wear my regular clothing again starting tomorrow...I look terrible in women's clothing. Ironically, as much as I hate it I have to thank it for literally saving my life a few times in the past, so I can't just discard it altogether."

"I don't think you look too bad in a dress." Zelda remarked quietly, looking at Andre's dress quietly. She wondered what Andre meant by the crossdressing literally saving his life, but she figured it was something she could ask later. "I mean, it's not like you look like some random drag queen-like beauty, you look kind-of more natural compared to other men I've seen in dresses before. It reminds me of this one time when Gannondorf manipulated Marth, Ike, Roy and Link to present a fashion show with them walking down the runway drag queen style."

"They did?" Andre asked, gawking at the princess briefly before regaining composure.

"Yes. It was was really funny. Although I did feel a bit bad when Ike tripped over the hem of his long dress and fell off the runway." Zelda responded, cringing slightly at the memory of the blue-haired swordsman being carried to the infirmary right after the accident. "So, you don't need to feel bad about what you look like now, Andre. Everyone has their embarrassing clothing problem now and then."

The blond appeared to blush slightly, before nodding. "Thank you..."

* * *

"Hm..." Zakuro stared at the chessboard for what seemed like forever, until she threw her hands up in the air. "How am I supposed to bloody find a way to get a checkmate from here!?" She wailed, putting her hands to her head. "It's not fair that you're good at this game and I'm not, Meta Knight! That's not cool! You should have told me before we started playing!"

The spherical warrior let out a sigh from across the chessboard. "Zakuro, please calm down, and besides, you never asked how good I was at the game before we started playing. I'm sure there is a way for you to find a way to get past my queen, who is slowly annihilating all your pawns and got rid of your only rook last turn." He responded calmly.

Zakuro stared at the chessboard once more, before realizing a very, very obvious move to get close to checkmate. The gothic-lolita style Eccentric moved her last pawn to the end of the board, before grinning and switching it with a rook.

"Check."

* * *

Blood slowly spread in a puddle around a certain psychic-type Pokémon, and the silver-haired former assassin smiled a bit in glee as Mewtwo tried to get to his knees.

"Mewtwo? I have a present for you." Lyndon murmured quietly, getting on a knee in front of the psychic, before taking out a revolver and pointing it at the Pokémon's head. "I've never used this gun on anyone before. It's a laser gun, so there will be no bullets, but lasers, obviously. That way, it won't leave a mark, though it will hurt. You should be lucky that you're the first one to get shot by this little thing."

_"You're sick." _Mewtwo rasped in response, getting onto both knees and looking up at the silver-haired Eccentric. _"Lyndon...Who are you really, underneath your behaviour?"_

"I'm a monster, Mewtwo, and monsters love to kill. Not that I'm actually going to kill you."

Lyndon pulled the trigger, just as Amelia and Samus entered the courtyard.

* * *

**Author note: Whoa. How did this fic suddenly turn to a darker note? ...Well, next chapter should be more peaceful, and we might possibly see a backstory of one of the Eccentrics. Possibly.**

**Anyway, sorry for not updating in a while, I was quite busy and went through a brief time of writer's block. Hopefully the next chapter should be up sooner. Thanks for your patience!**


	14. Doubt

_14. Doubt_

"I must assume the matter is about Lyndon, Master Hand?" Xeraphina asked.

Master Hand nodded from across the desk. _"Yes. It is."_ He responded. _"He attacked Mewtwo an hour ago and almost killed him. I must also mention that he destroyed more Alloys than we can replace the moment earlier this morning, as well as almost endangering Wolf's life during their match as well. I'm beginning to doubt the point of his presence here. You said it would be a good sort of rehab for him, as you put it earlier."_

"I understand your doubts about him, Master Hand." The blue-haired Eccentric responded quietly, putting her hands in her lap. "He has killed many, many people in his past, and there is a nature of savageness in him. He is trying to do his best to restrain his savageness to a minimum-"

_" I'm afraid that I may have no choice but to force him to leave the mansion if this extreme violence continues. I can't have any more Smashers get completely injured like this-or possibly killed- for no reason by the former assasin."_

"Hey," Ambrose started, standing up and slamming a dagger into the desk. "If Lyndon is going to be forced to leave, I'm leaving too!"

"And me!" Zakuro responded, standing up as well and giving a glare towards Master Hand. Both Eccentrics were definitely more than willing to stand up for their friend, no matter how dangerous he was or could be.

"Zakuro, Ambrose, please..." Xeraphina trailed off. Both Eccentrics sat down, looking away from her and Master Hand. "Please, Master Hand. I know Lyndon can work his way through all of this. I have trust in him that he can change for the better. I just hope you can have trust in him as well..."

* * *

_"Will he be alright?" _Lucario asked as he looked at Mewtwo's unconscious form.

"He should be alright. At least, I hope so." Andre replied quietly, putting a hand to the Pokémon's bandaged forehead. The psychic twitched slightly in his sleep, and the top-hatted Eccentric let out a sigh. "I'm afraid, though, that it's possibly that he may be emotionally and mentally traumatized by such a deadly assault. I've seen that happen to some victims that have survived Lyndon's wrath, and it's not a pretty sight at all." He removed his hand from Mewtwo's forehead, before turning to Lucario. "I believe the best we can do is to simply let him rest. Sleep is a much-needed healer, and that is of vital importance to Mewtwo's health right now." Lucario nodded, before the two walked out of the room, only to run into Zelda, Samus and Link.

"We heard about what happened." Link explained to the two. "Is Mewtwo...?"

"He's alive, yes." Andre replied quietly, nodding once. His crimson eyes appeared to be filled with more worry, Lucario noticed. The crimson eyes were filled with much more worry than when he was with Lyndon moments earlier. The Aura Pokémon had expected Andre to be more worried when with Lyndon than right now... "Zelda, Samus, Link, are you two..."

"We're both shocked about it..." Zelda trailed off, biting her lower lip briefly before continuing. "I find it unsettling that one could implement all this violence upon the rest of us."

"Princess. If you need my help, just go ahead and yell for it." Andre responded quietly, turning his gaze to her. "I wouldn't let any dirty hand lay a finger on you."

"Well, I think you're a little too late for that, considering that Link already had his hands dirtied by digging up Peach's petunias with his bare hands after he almost lost his cap earlier." Samus remarked, and Zelda and Lucario couldn't help but laugh a little at this. Link face-palmed himself while Andre let out a sigh.

"I didn't mean _literally_ dirty..."

Lucario noted quietly to himself that Andre had taken this chance-to try to charm Zelda. He knew Link wasn't catching on, and the Aura Pokémon had a feeling that things weren't going to end well with this situation...

* * *

_Blood._

That one word stuck in Lyndon's mind as he wrote endless scribbles on pieces of paper. The silver-haired Eccentric was confused, and he turned to words on paper to satisfy his desire to try to make sense of something.

_Want it. Don't want it. Need more. Need less... Too much evidence of the killing. Must try to kill more effectively and not spread so much blood around._

He bit his lower lip, looking at the words he scrawled down. He paused, before writing some more.

_Think of less blood. Think of less bruises. Need to think of something else. Hugs. Kisses. Something not bloody. Xeraphina. Amelia/Ambrose. Zakuro. Andre. Andre-Andre-Andre-Andre-Andre need want love lust Andre. _

_Andre is charming Zelda. He likes her. Link likes Zelda. I doubt he has caught onto this yet._

_Must break strings between Andre and Zelda as soon as possible. Must tie strings between Zelda and Link. Must do this without implementing violence to make this extra successful. _

_Andre mine. Not hers. Why? Do I love him, or is it posessive, or...?_

_Completely irrelevant to think of it. Must start now._

He stood, looking at his words, before blinking once and walking out of his room, not noticing Olimar who had been observing him in silence the whole time.


	15. Make you a sandwich

_15. Make you a sandwich_

"Lyndon."

The silver-haired assassin turned to face Xeraphina, who stood a few feet from him.

"I'm going to make you a sandwich. And then we can go outside, have a little picnic together and talk, alright?" She spoke, making eye contact with him. "Just the two of us."

"It's a hummus sandwich, right?" He asked, taking a few steps towards her. Xeraphina nodded, extending a hand to him. He took her hand in his, and the two started to walk out of the room together.

"Yup. It's hummus, Lyndon. Just the way you like it." She smiled, and he smiled back. "Let's go."

* * *

"Where's Lyndon?" No one had realized Lyndon's absence until Zelda spoke up. "He was here about a half hour ago..." She trailed off, looking around.

"Perhaps Xeraphina took her with him to go make sandwiches." Amelia responded, leaning back on the chair which she sat on.

"Make sandwiches?" Lucas asked, confused. "What does that mean?"

Andre paused, before explaining. "You see, whenever Lyndon gets into some sort of troubling situation and nothing seems to be working, Xeraphina often goes on a little outing with him to figure out what's on his mind and try to make amends with the problem. 'Making sandwiches' is our phrase for 'talking with Lyndon in private.' It's best not to try to find them right now." He finished, smiling a little. "It's alright. I'm sure they'll be fine, Lucas."

"Alright..."

Before anyone else could speak up, Dr. Mario suddenly burst into the room, panting and trying to catch his breath. "What's wrong, Doctor?" Zelda asked.

"Mamma Mia...Mewtwo's gone missing!" Dr. Mario exclaimed frantically. "He's not supposed to be out of the infirmary yet!"

"What!?" The other Eccentrics and Smashers glanced at each other, before Samus spoke up.

"We have to find him. I doubt he'd get too far..." She trailed off, before running out of the room.

"Wait up!" Amelia shouted, running after her.

Andre turned to Zelda. "Princess, we can look for him in the courtyard. I have feeling that might be a possible place of where Lyndon and Xeraphina went. Perhaps Mewtwo decided to try to confront them about the earlier incident."

"Sounds good." Zelda responded, but then Link spoke up.

"I'll come with you guys, too." Andre nodded, before the three left the room, leaving Dr. Mario behind with no one to help him search...

* * *

Mewtwo trudged towards the courtyard quietly, trying to find Lyndon and Xeraphina. He wanted to talk to them. Why? Why would he want to talk to someone who almost killed him, and someone who was a companion to the man who almost killed him?

He just simply needed to know what was on their minds. He wanted to know why Lyndon attacked him like that, and he wanted to see if it was always in his nature to just suddenly attack someone, or if it was something he hadn't really meant to do.

Lyndon was like a child in a sense, Mewtwo decided to himself. The assassin was treating violence like child's play. He enjoyed it like a child, he treated it as seriously as a child would, and he seemed so unaware of the consequences that followed. Yes, Lyndon was indeed like a child...

It was during this train of thought that Mewtwo took notice of Lyndon and Xeraphina.

The two were underneath a tree, and Xeraphina sat up, leaning against the tree. Lyndon, however, looked asleep, his head in her lap as he lay vertical to her. The blue-haired Eccentric gently stroked the sleeping assassin's silver hair with one hand, the other hand by her side. She then looked up, noticing Mewtwo's presence.

"You're not supposed to be out of the infirmary yet." She remarked quietly, tilting her head to the side a bit.

_"No, I'm not." _Mewtwo admitted, walking over to Xeraphina slowly and sitting down beside her. _"I wanted to speak with you and Lyndon both...Although Lyndon seems to be asleep."_

"He is asleep." The Eccentric responded, looking down at Lyndon briefly before continuing. "You can talk with me, though. It's okay-Lyndon won't try to assassinate anyone in his sleep. He claims this to be a weakness to his fighting, and although I understand why he claims so, I think a lot more people would be scared to wake him up in the morning if he sleeps in."

_"...Understandable." _Mewtwo paused, before speaking again. _"Is Lyndon's behaviour always like this? ...To suddenly attack people out of the blue? Or was it something outside his usual behaviour? I'm just wondering..."_

Xeraphina let out a sigh. "Honestly, I think it just depends on his mood if he wants to attack people out of nowhere. When he attacked you, I think he might have been thinking about it all being in good sports or something. I don't know him that well, unfortunately."

_"It's alright, Xeraphina." _Mewtwo reassured her. _"I'm just glad I know now. Thank you."_

"It is no problem at all, Mewtwo." Xeraphina paused, before picking up a sandwich and extending it towards him. "Do you want to try one?"

Mewtwo looked at the triangle-shaped sandwich, puzzled by what it could be. _"What sort of sandwich is it exactly?"_

"Hummus. It's Lyndon's favourite type of sandwich. It's tasty, I can assure you."

Mewtwo decided to accept the offer. He was feeling a little peckish, and he was sure dinner would be in a few hours. He paused, before biting into it, chewing slowly before swallowing.

_"...It's intersting."_ The psychic Pokemon concluded.

It was Xeraphina's turn to be puzzled. "Do you mean by a good sort of interesting, or a bad sort of interesting?" She asked._  
_

_"Good interesting." _Mewtwo clarified. The two just simply smiled at each other, and let silence settle between them, only being broken occasionally by Lyndon's sleeping breath.

* * *

Andre took notice of the sight, before turning to Zelda and Link. "I found Mewtwo. He's with Xeraphina and Lyndon. I don't believe it would be a good idea to disturb them for now, though. It would be rude to ruin the moment." He explained to them gently.

"Well, I guess you have a point there." Link responded, nodding in agreement. "Let's go back into the mansion..."

The three headed back towards the mansion, not noticing a lolita-styled Eccentric who was sitting on a tree branch above and watching them carefully.

* * *

**Author note: ...It's been a while since I updated this fic, hasn't it? Sorry for the delay, but I was a bit busy for the past while. Hopefully the next chapter should come up a bit sooner, and thanks for your patience!**


	16. A Conversation

_16. A Conversation_

"Psst. Look up here, mister I'm-an-assassin-and-I-can-kill-lots-of-people!"

Lyndon opened his eyes and looked up quietly, to see a familiar Eccentric sitting on the tree branch above him. He noticed that there was an absence of Xeraphina's presence, but she probably left him to his little nap and got sick of him using her lap as a pillow earlier.

"Yo." Zakuro greeted, waving a bit. The Lolita-styled Eccentric was wearing her usual outfit, but she wore a little top hat attached to a hairband, probably for use as a hair accessory of the sorts. "Salutations, Lyndon! How was the nap?"

Lyndon let out a sigh. "Greetings, Zakuro. The nap was fine. What happened while I was asleep?"

"Mewtwo broke out of the infirmary."

"What?" Lyndon asked, unsure if he got the answer correctly. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Xeraphina sent him back, though, after they chatted for a little while about you. I saw Zelda, Link and Andre trying to look for Mewtwo, too. They just scampered away, after seeing Xeraphina talking with him, to who-knows-where."

Lyndon sat up, letting a hand slide through his silver hair and pick out a few small leaves that entangled themselves in the tresses. "Zelda, Link and Andre?" He repeated the names quietly. "Were you able to figure out what they were talking about?"

"No." Zakuro muttered, shaking her head. "I couldn't. They were already walking away by the time I started paying attention to their conversation. I think they were going back into the Mansion for snack or something. Why do you want to know, anyway?"

"Zakuro. Andre is mine. I can't let some woman playing hard-to-get obtain him." Lyndon responded, standing up. "I can't let a nice guy like him get a hold of her, either. He's too good for her, and she's being...well, herself."

"So, you're going to cause drama and heartbreak between them?" Zakuro asked, her eyes widening a bit. "Lyndon, I swear you are not an assassin, but rather an awesome fighter and a heartbreaking bastard."

"Thank you for the compliment." The former assassin responded, giving her a wry smile. "Don't worry, if it's extra successful, no one will die. I'll make sure to let Zelda know that Andre is mine for keeps, and that I don't plan on sharing him with someone like her."

Zakuro nodded, a small frown on her face. "Okay, Lyndon...Just don't do anything completely ridiculous and stupid..."

* * *

Pit walked around the courtyard, completely bored out of his mind. The poor angel had no fights with anyone, and he couldn't find anyone to hang out with, since everyone was fussing over Lyndon, Mewtwo and the incident earlier between them.

Thankfully for him, that was when he ran into Ambrose-almost literally.

"Whoa, hold it!" Ambrose exclaimed, backing up slightly. "Hey, Pit. What's the rush?"

"...I can't find anyone to hang out with. They're all too occupied with Lyndon and Mewtwo and...Well, you know already." The angel responded, letting out a sigh.

"Well..." Ambrose paused, before continuing. "I could hang out with you. I've got no idea where my brother is, anyway, and-" He paused again, turning to notice two figures at a nearby tree. "Hey!" One of the figures immediately scampered back into the tree, while the other turned to stare at Ambrose at Pit. "Lyndon, Zakuro! What's up?"

"Nothing, really." Lyndon responded casually, giving a blank face of indifference. Zakuro waved to Pit from the tree, and Pit sheepishly waved back. "Zakuro and I were just having a chat, really. Nothing special."

"Really..." Ambrose trailed off skeptically, adjusting his hat a little bit. Zakuro and Lyndon both nodded in sync. "Alright, if that's what you say..."

"Want to hang out with us?" Pit asked.

"Sure!" The Lolita-styled Eccentric responded, grinning. "What do you think, Lyndon?"

"Sure, I suppose...It's not like I have anything much else to do at the moment." Lyndon responded, shrugging a bit.

_I was able to fight with Mewtwo...Lucas is next. Perhaps I should do it in an actual match-sort of setting so that he won't get too gravely injured. I'll fight the boy tomorrow. I can be patient._

* * *

"Zelda?"

"Yes, Andre?" Zelda asked, turning to see the top-hatted Eccentric. The Eccentric looked a bit nervous, and he was blushing a little.

"Um, I wanted to tell you that I...Um...I..."

The blond was trembling a bit, and he took a small step closer to her.

"I really..." He paused, before shouting. "I really like how you look today! The colours of the dress compliment your skin tone and figure!" He then face-palmed himself, letting out a sigh. _Idiot, idiot, idiot! That was not what you were going to say! _He shouted at himself in his mind. _What if she takes it the wrong way, and decides to beat you up for that? What if she thinks you're a pervert!?_

Instead of the beating Andre expected, Zelda instead smiled a little at him. "Why thank you, Andre." She responded, nodding a little. "It's very nice of you."

_Phew...But I really need to tell her about my feelings. Soon. I hope I can make myself able to do that..._

* * *

"Xeraphina?"

"Yes?" The blue-haired Eccentric turned to see Samus, clad in her Zero Suit. The bounty hunter looked a bit concerned, and curious, too.

"Could you tell me a little about Lyndon? I've just been wondering...How was he an assassin in the first place? How did he even meet you?"

Xeraphina paused, before answering. "It's a long story."


	17. Lyndon

_17. Lyndon_

"Andre? Andre?"

The blond Eccentric turned to see Lyndon walk over to him.

"What is it, Lyndon?" Andre asked, adjusting his top hat quietly as he made eye contact with the former assassin. "Don't tell me that you nearly killed someone..."

Lyndon shook his head, before looking around the courtyard quietly. "It's not that. It's just...we need to talk." He finally finished. "It's about you. And that Zelda woman. Please."

Andre nodded quietly. "Alright, Lyndon. We can talk."

* * *

"You know that Lyndon was a former assassin, right?" Xeraphina started. She and Samus sat down opposite each other as she continued. "He comes from a family of legendary assassins, called the Rosarios. Their motto is to leave no one alive and to show no mercy. And for years of his life, he lived his life underneath that code. He was the family's best assassin, and he would kill his own family members if ordered to, without a second glance, if they failed their missions."

"You mean, even his mom and dad were assassins?" The bounty hunter asked, letting the information sink in.

"Yes." The blue-haired Eccentric paused, before she continued. "Even his mother and father were assassins. They both died a year after he was born-killed by the people they were assigned to kill. Years later, Lyndon was given the same assignment his parents took, to kill those certain people. He did that...and that's where things derailed."

"What happened? Did he get caught in action?"

"Yes. By an infant boy." Xeraphina's voice wavered as she continued. "The boy was crying...and Lyndon...Lyndon broke. He tried to protect the boy, but he was killed as well. His grandfather disowned him and kicked him out. Lyndon was_ so_ angry. He...he went away from his home for a week. Later, he came back and killed everyone there, except for a newborn cousin he had. He left the cousin with a family in a nearby village, claiming that he was the child's guardian and that he needed someone to take care of him, because he was going to die from an unknown disease in three days. A strange lie, but it must have been reasonable-sounding enough to the family, because they agreed to take him in and raise him as their own."

"Do you think it was good for him to do that?" Samus asked, her eyes widening in mortification. "To go and kill his own family!? To leave the only survivor with strangers?"

"Samus Aran, listen to me." Xeraphina spoke up quietly. "If you were in that situation; to have no one to run to for help, no money or food to take care of yourself with, and have a newborn child with you...would you let the child die? Or would you leave him with those strangers, in the hope that he would be alright and never learn his origins? I think it was alright of Lyndon to do that. Perhaps it was a way for him to try to redeem himself for all the killing he had done. And to leave the child alive? I think it was because he wanted _someone_ in his family to have a clean slate, because everyone else was already stained to the point of no longer being able to be clean...and Lyndon counted himself among those stained ones."

Samus was silent for a moment, thinking about Xeraphina's words. _She has a point. I guess even Lyndon, though he doesn't seem like it, actually cares. He and I have a lot in common. _

That thought was certainly true. Samus knew she probably didn't look like the type to care about people to others who didn't know her well, but she did care about others; like Pikachu and Baby Metroid. She lost her parents at a young age-and was picked up by the Chozos. Perhaps, Samus mused, she and Lyndon had more in common than she thought.

"Xeraphina?"

"Yes?" The Eccentrics' leader had been using the stretchy rainbow arms from her final smash to pour herself a cup of tea when Samus spoke up. "What is it?"

"How did you encounter Lyndon? When?" The bounty hunter pushed a lock of blond hair out of her face as she asked the question.

Xeraphina paused, to take a sip of her tea, before answering. "He was on the verge of starvation when my friends and I found him, one year ago. Even _assassins_ need to eat at times, and obviously he forgot about that. As careful as he was with his work, he was not so careful with his health, unfortunately." She seemed to chuckle slightly. "He always had a problem with that. If he overexerts himself, he usually collapses eventually. Speaking of that..." She took another sip of her tea, before finishing. "Considering that he nearly killed Wolf and Mewtwo, and he's been all stressed out about something lately...it's possible that might happen soon."

* * *

"Do you seriously think Zelda is _that_ bad?" Andre asked. The two lay in the grass silently as they talked. "I thought she was nice...And she seems to like me a little, I think..."

Lyndon mindlessly twirled a leaf in one hand as he answered the question. "Yes, Andre, she is that bad in reality. She's playing the good girl role to try to get your affections. If it's not for that, it's probably to make Link jealous and _want_ her more-I'm sure he has liked her for a good while. You should confront her about it, tell her you're not some part of her little game. It's not worth going after her." He finished, crushing the leaf in his hand before tossing it aside.

The blond Eccentric paused, before speaking up again. "Are _you _jealous, Lyndon? I know you've always liked me."

"I don't just _like _you." The silver-haired Eccentric responded a tad sharper than he meant to sound. The look on his face was a serious one as he continued. "I really do have _interest_ in you, Andre. It's just that I doubt it would work between us. I mean, look at me. I'm a cold-blooded killer who only has a heart for a few people. You're a peaceful, former aristocrat who can have a heart for anyone. Of course if we tried to go further, we would never-"

"Lyndon." Lyndon turned to look at Andre, who looked slightly appalled at Lyndon's statements. "I know that we've been through difficulties, okay? And sure we've been on again, off again. I just think...we could make _us_ work. And I'm sorry. It's not right to be trying to chase others when you know that you have someone that you belong to, even if you keep trying to separate yourself from that someone."

Lyndon seemed to almost half-smile at that. "Alright then, Andre...kiss me."

Before Andre had the opportunity to respond, that was when Zakuro came into view, swinging on a tree branch. Andre let out a shout of shock as Lyndon got up quickly, took out a dagger and threw it at the intruder. Zakuro let out a small scream, and she dropped to the ground seconds before the dagger hit the branch and pinned it to the ground.

"Come on, guys! You know I'm not going to attack you!" Zakuro pouted, crossing her arms.

"Sorry, Zakuro, but did you not realize that you have intruded on an almost-romantic moment and pretty much killed it?" Andre responded irritably as he and Lyndon both glared at her a little. "I thought you would have heard us speaking..."

"No, no, not really." The scar-covered Eccentric responded as she tried to flatten out the hem of her frilly dress. "Sorry."

"It's fine..." Lyndon trailed off, letting a smirk appear on his face. "You only saved Andre from some embarrassment for putting him on the spot to try to give a display of affection, after all. I guess I'll just have to try harder!"

Zakuro let out a giggling fit as Andre's face turned slightly pink from embarrassment. "Ah, it's alright Andre," She teased gently. "Your little secret is safe with us, right, Lyndon?"

Lyndon merely nodded in response. "Yes." He glanced at the afternoon sun, before speaking up again. "I think it would be best if we went to check on how Xeraphina is-" He suddenly went still, stiffening as if he were made out of wax.

"Lyndon?" Andre asked quietly, taking a step towards him carefully. "Are you-"

The silver-haired Eccentric collapsed, eyelids fluttering closed. Andre immediately caught him in his arms, before he and Zakuro exchanged worried looks.

Lyndon needed medical attention-urgently.

* * *

**Author note: So...I noticed that I haven't exactly updated this for a pretty long while, now. I hope this chapter makes up for it-sorry for the delay. Thanks for your patience!**


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